Shipowners making the most of dry-bulker buying opportunities

Greek shippers accounted for some 30 percent of used vessel acquisitions around the world in terms of capacity last month, according to data compiled by Golden Destiny shipbrokers.

Greek shipping firms invested $316.4 million euros in 20 used ships with a total capacity of 2.02 million deadweight tons (dwt) in February. In January, Greek shippers had purchased 12 used ships.

There was a total of 111 used ship transactions last month, meaning the Greek purchases accounted for 18 percent of global activity. The combined value of the ships sold around the world in February came to $1.87 billion and their capacity amounted to 6.6 million dwt.

The most popular purchases these days are dry-bulk carriers, due to the massive decline in their price. Out of the 20 vessels Greek shipowners acquired last month, 12 were dry-bulkers (50 percent more than in January), with a total capacity of 1.28 million dwt and a value of $173.2 million. The other ships acquired were five tankers worth $108.5 million, and three container ships costing a total of $34.7 million.

The buying opportunities in the dry-bulker market are hard to ignore, particularly if you’re a shipowner with cash to spare. The prices of those vessels have declined by over 50 percent compared with previous years: In April 2014 a five-year-old Capesize dry-bulker cost $52 million, while nowadays a similar ship costs just $22 million, i.e. a decline of 57 percent.