Buying prices for new panamax commodity-hauling ships will drop 10 percent by the end of next year as slumping charter rates curb owners’ vessel purchases, said Maritime Strategies International Ltd., Bloomberg reports. Prices will “trough” in 2012’s second quarter and be at $30 million by the end of the year, Adam Kent, a director at the freight forecaster, said during a conference in London today. That compares with around $33 million to $33.5 million now, he said.
There are 648 panamaxes on order at shipyards worldwide, equating to 34 percent of the trading fleet of 1,886 vessels, according to data from Clarkson Research Securities Ltd., a unit of the world’s biggest shipbroker. Charter rates for the vessels provided by the Baltic Exchange have slipped 2.3 percent in 2011 after falling 49 percent last year.
There are 648 panamaxes on order at shipyards worldwide, equating to 34 percent of the trading fleet of 1,886 vessels, according to data from Clarkson Research Securities Ltd., a unit of the world’s biggest shipbroker. Charter rates for the vessels provided by the Baltic Exchange have slipped 2.3 percent in 2011 after falling 49 percent last year.