Ship recycling market remains depressed

In its latest weekly report, Hamburg-based Eckhardt Marine GmbH notes that ship recycling markets are still very depressed. Prices having dropped by more than $90 per long ton lightweight in Bangladesh and around $50 per long ton lightweight in India.

"Many units committed at high level are currently under renegotiations," says Eckhardt. "In some extreme cases, deposits have been simply abandoned."

The ongoing strong supply of demolition tonnage may not contribute to a prompt recovery of price levels. "We have seen more than 20 fresh candidates coming on the market since the beginning of this week and about same number of vessels were remaining unsold from the previous weeks," says Eckhardt.

The only market still resisting to this downward pressure is Pakistani, but this may not last long as several vessels have already been redirected toward Karachi.