Some ship types have nearly doubled in secondhand value, in what VesselsValue analyst Dan Nash describes as a potential “roaring 2020s” for the industry.
Anchor-handling tug supply vessels are leading the way: five-year-old asset values have spiked 97% since 2021.
Nash, associate director of valuation & analytics at the Veson Nautical platform, assessed these offshore ships as worth $17m now.
Platform supply vessels have jumped 67% to $40m, he said.
Prices have been supported by a low orderbook of 2% to 3% of the existing capacity.
Five-year-old capesize values have risen by 52%, up $21m from the beginning of 2023.
A five-year-old VLCC has gained 17%, requiring buyers to pay $17m more versus January 2023 prices.
“The industry may look back on this decade as the ‘roaring 2020s’ for vessel values if disruptive trends persist in the second half of 2024,” Nash said.
“In the meantime, savvy diversified shipowners have been quietly placing their bets into new and alternative sectors. Not surprisingly, Greek shipowners have been front and centre.”
The rise in offshore ship values prompted Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Offshore to pay $180m for four new PSVs at China’s Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding in June with options attached, the analyst believes.
This was swiftly followed by two multipurpose supply vessels (MPSVs) at the same shipyard in September.
Anticipating a forward curve
“Vessel prices in the offshore market have risen by a huge margin since 2021, but Capital are clearly anticipating a strong forward curve going forward,” Nash said.
An unnamed Greek owner has also ordered up to 10 MPSVs at Singapore’s Pax Ocean.
“As we have seen, it’s an expensive time to buy large ships across sectors, and it’s a good time to sell based on historical prices,” Nash added.
“Capital Group must have felt the timing was right to sell nine modern VLCCs to Bahri in August, pocketing $1bn.”
He also pointed to the group offloading a trio of 12-year-old post-panamax container ships to Peter Dohle in March for $51m, including time charters.
This was followed by the sale of five 11-year-old post-panamaxes to undisclosed buyers last month.
These deals combined have generated revenue of more than $1.4bn that will be used to finance Capital’s expansive gas carrier newbuilding programme, Nash said.
