MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and Meratus Line were among three container ship owners who sold older vessels to recyclers in India and Bangladesh over the past week.
Singapore-based cash buyer Wirana Shipping Corp expects the pace of container ship recycling to pick up further in the near term as Taiwan’s Wan Hai Lines circulates six feeder-size container vessels for further trading or recycling.
“Considering that container vessels less than 2,000 teu are experiencing poor freight markets, these units should mostly go for recycling,” Wirana said in its latest market report. “The delivery for these six units is spread over a two-month period until the end of September this year.”
Wan Hai sold 10 container ships for recycling in January, stipulating that the vessels be sold only to yards compliant with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.
Several of these vessels went to shipyards in Indonesia and Bahrain that were keen to enter the green-recycling sector.
MSC, which has been slowly but consistently pruning its fleet of older container ships since the beginning of this year, has sold yet another of its older container ships — the 3,501-teu MSC Kerry (built 1995) — for Hong Kong Convention-compliant recycling in India.
Shipbroker and cash buyer market reports indicate that the MSC Kerry, which arrived off Alang on Saturday, was sold for between $540 per ldt and $545 per ldt, or just over $8.4m in total.
Hong Kong-based Goship Group and Indonesia’s Meratus opted to recycle their unwanted feeder container ships in Bangladesh.
Goships’ 614-teu SCO Qingdao (built 1997) was sold on a delivered-Chattogram basis for a reported $610 per ldt, or $2.3m.
Meratus’ 1,104-teu Meratus Makassar (built 1995) was beached at Chattogram last week. Brokers said the ship was sold on 8 June for an undisclosed sum.
In the dry bulk sector, Chinese owner Xiamen Enka Import & Export is reported to have sold its only ship — the 47,400-dwt bulker Jin Yuan Xing 9 (built 1996) — on a delivered-Chattogram basis for $560 per ldt, or $4.24m.
Another Chinese-owned bulker — the 41,100-dwt Shun Hang Wei Ye (built 1991) — was reported sold to cash buyers on an “as is” basis in Guangdong for redelivery to Bangladesh at $505 per ldt, or $4.14m.
Owner Weiye Shipping acquired the vessel in March 2022 as Shun Tong Da 156 from Wenzhou Shuntongda Shipping, according to Clarksons, although the sale and renaming have yet to be reflected in other reputable shipping databases.
The week witnessed limited activities in subcontinent markets as a subdued atmosphere prevailed across the South Asian recycling sector.
“As the monsoon season draws nearer, the demand for ships is showing signs of further weakening,” Star Asia Shipbroking director Rohit Goyanka said.
Best Oasis noted that recycling operations in Alang were suspended for four days last week owing to the impact of tropical cyclone Biparjoy, but the biggest factor affecting recyclers is the dearth of available tonnage.
Wirana said the supply of tonnage over the past week was comparatively better than in previous weeks, with units from bulker and LNG segments being circulated for recycling.
