Ships & yachts Exchange :A 31-year-old Ship Sold at 10 Million RMB, and the Price of Second-hand Ships Keep Rising

After an old ship which has been in service for nine years sold at a price of a new ship, the second-hand ship trading market once again reported “shocking” news. On the morning of April 21st, the 31-year-old “RUI JIN” bulk carrier was snapped up by an agent of a foreign buyer for RMB 141.75 million after 51 bids, and the premium rate reached 21.3% based on the starting price of RMB 116.9 million.

It is worth noting that this “RUI JIN” round is the first time that the domestic shipping market has bid for the ship in the “dual currency” of US dollar and RMB. This means that the domestic second-hand shipping trade has broken through the “double cycle” of the shipping industry, and has taken a breakthrough step in the field of global synchronous bidding for international ships.

At present, the shortage of available capacity triggered by the hot market of dry bulk cargo shipment at home and abroad has brought about more need of buying second-hand dry bulk carriers. China Secondhand Ship Price Index (SSPI) shows that the latest comprehensive index of dry bulk carriers has reached 914.14 points, with a year-on-year increase of 23.28%, which is the highest in recent three years.

According to industry analysts, “the index reflects the trend of ship price changes and is also an important indicator to measure the confidence of the shipping market.”

At present, the market of dry bulk cargo transportation at home and abroad is booming, and the capacity of dry bulk carriers is in short supply. That’s why the emergence of rush purchase of second-hand ship.

2020 Review of Maritime Transport by the United Nations predicts that the global dry bulk shipping volume will reach 5.303 billion tons in 2021, up 4.0% year-on-year, and the shipping volume of iron ore and coal will rebound sharply year-on-year. At the same time, the available capacity in China’s coastal areas is tight, and the freight rate of dry bulk carriers are volatile and rising, nearly doubling the freight rate year on year. Industry insiders accordingly predict that  price of secondhand ships may keep rising.

Last year, the domestic secondhand ship transaction was once deadlocked. But since this year, it has achieved a strong start.

According to the data of the Shipbid, from January to April, the auction turnover of the platform totaled $42.65 million (RMB 277 million), about 10 times that of the same period last year. Among them, “Huarong 5”, a 9-year-old ship, sold at $17.46 million (RMB 113.4 million) after 209 rounds of bidding with a starting price of 76.6 million, which broke the record of single ship auction turnover of “Shipbid” and injected great confidence for the current shipping biding market.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that “RUI JIN” is also the first successful auction of foreign-related arrested ships by Ningbo Public Security Department, which provides a case for how relevant law enforcement agencies deal with arrested ships in the future