Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2020)

Global Markets: bulkers 2020 yearbook

Market: Bulkers olivia Watkins, Head Cargo analyst, Vessels Value he number of Bulker orders were down 30% for 2020 has now caught up to the smaller sizes with the biggest fall

YTD compared to the same period last year. From the 1st in values seen in the older Supramax and Handysize vessels. of January 2020 when the Chinese market and shipyards From the beginning of the year until now, Capesize rates fell by

Tclosed due to the pandemic, until today, we have only c.80% and smaller Bulker sizes only by 60 -70%. seen $1,037 mil spend in the Bulker NB market, down 35% for The number of deals transacted also fell by 40% compared the same period in 2019. The Chinese government have now to YTD 2019 with only four deals confirmed in the month of started up the economy again and most of the orders placed are April 2020. Having said this, the number of deals in May 2020 by companies like China Development bank and Bank of Com- showed signs the market is beginning to pick back up, with a munications all being built at Chinese yards. high proportion of Greek companies taking advantage of low

COVID-19 has hit the Bulker market hard and values have ship prices and buying when the markets down. taken a substantial tumble since the beginning of the year. This Although the Sub Continent steel plate price fell from $410/ is mainly due to the softening in earnings we have seen since LDT to $295/LDT between the months of January and May, we the beginning of the year. Earlier in February/March, we saw have seen an increase on demolition deals done by c.40% YTD the Capesize and Panamax market falling dramatically, this compared to YTD 2019 due to the poor market. 36 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • June 2020