With challenging conditions in the scrap market and increasingly youthful fleet, however, the world’s largest shipbroker is unsure if demolition will continue at record levels.
Clarksons counts 24.9m dwt sold for recycling in the first half of 2015, measured against the 49.9m dwt delivered.
This has led to global fleet growth of 1.4%, the shipbroker’s figures show.
Predictably, bulkers dominated demolition activity in the first six months of 2015.
Clarksons counts 19.8m dwt exiting the dry market, 79% of the capacity scrapped globally in the first half.
Natalie Burrows of Clarksons notes the average age of the 68 capesizes scrapped has been 20.7 years, compared with the dry sector average of 24.9.
“The recycling of younger units has been driven by depressed earnings and the relatively youthful age profile of the fleet; today 79% of bulkers are less than 15 years old compared to about 50% ten years ago,” she wrote in a report.
With scrapping slowing of late, the demolition market facing uncertain conditions and prices falling it is not clear of the scrap momentum will be sustained in the second half of the year, Burrows explains.
“So, despite the run-rate in the first half suggesting at a glance something close to record recycling levels this year, the impact of demolition as a “pressure valve” has not been that broad,” Burrows said.
“And although the full year demolition total will likely be fairly robust, there are now some question marks over the extent to which the flow will be maintained.”
