While industry shakes off recession hangover, demolition of dry bulk ships hits new record
Demolition of dry bulk ships has reached record levels in deadweight tonnage terms due to a combination of low freight rates, high fuel costs and high prices being offered by ship breakers to owners, executives with a major listed dry bulk shipowner said Monday.
As of October 14, 300 dry bulk carriers, aggregating 19.6 million dwt, had been sold for scrap so far this year, beating by 160% the previous record of 12.2 million dwt set in the whole of 1986, Frangou Angeliki, chairman and CEO of Navios Maritime Partners told analysts on a conference call to discuss the company’s third-quarter results.
The number of dry bulk carriers sold for demolition so far this year represented 3.65% of the global dry bulk carrier fleet, she said.
Last year 5.8 million dwt of dry bulk tonnage was sold for scrap, representing just 1.3% of the global fleet.
George Achniotis, senior vice president of business development at Navios Maritime, said an average of 1.2% of the world fleet was committed for demolition each year in the period 2000-2010, inclusive.
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