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Ιn 2021 Bulkers, Containers & LNG, came back stronger, while in the Tanker sector, 2021 was surely a year of no inspiration for tanker owners, as there was an imbalance of supply of tonnage. Many tanker vessels come out of their storage contracts in what was a “bad timing”, with pandemic related subdued demand. Shipping showed its robustness and importance in keeping the supply chain linked, and global port disruptions showed how crucial is the timely turnaround of goods from A to B.

Since the start of the year, both crude and product tankers have had negative daily closing averages, with the BDTI going down 3.5% since the last working week of 2021 at the point mark of 705, hitting its lowest mark since 12th of October. Meanwhile the BDTI fell over the same period to 627, losing 11%, its lowest mark since 25th of November. But despite the year start, the 2022 overlook for Tankers is still positive based on the expectations that this may be the year the world will move to a post pandemic era. An era in which the global oil demand will recover to pre pandemic levels. OPEC has already agreed to stick to the plan and boost output further while Libyan production rose to 900,000 barrels a day after maintenance in a major pipeline was completed and part of Kazakhstan’s output which was interrupted during last week’s unrest is already restored. The situation offers a good opportunity to capture the demand growth, and this has been evident last year, with Buyers focusing on the product carriers where we saw most of the tanker sale and purchase transactions of 2021. It is worth noting that MR Product tanker sales in 2021 were up by more than 40% compared to 2020 sales data.

In Bulkers, the decision of Indonesian government to halt coal exports in January as a necessary measure in order to resupply the domestic inventories as power station supplies were critically low, came as a “thunderbolt” to the market. Indonesia is one of the biggest coal exporters in the world with around 400 million tonnes exported in 2021, mainly towards China, India, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea, and the transportation of Indonesian coal accounted for more than 11% for both Panamax and Supramax employment.

A global rise in coal prices was prompted in the first days of 2022. The coal price has jumped from USD 157.5/tonne on January 3rd to USD 203/tonne on January 10th, a 10week highest. The Indonesian authorities have said that the coal inventories are now sufficient, but the export ban hasn’t been fully lifted yet, despite the agreement at the meeting between Indonesian government and the coal mining sector about the country’s new policy for coal sales. As it stands, only a select group of 25 coal producers have been allowed to resume their exports, even if nothing stops ships from loading coal, they cannot obtain sailing permits. If Indonesian authorities don’t fully lift the coal export ban soon, it may lead to China, India and Japan looking for alternative coal sources. Even if China can cover a part through domestic production, the other countries will possibly turn to imports from Australia, S.Africa and the USA to satisfy their demand. This turn to imports from other countries than Indonesia may possibly have a positive effect on the bulker market, as we will have more tonne miles, while at the same time a significant number of vessels will still be idle in Indonesian ports, making ship supply tighter.

The BDI closed on Friday on 2,289 points mark, up by 3.25% since 2021 end. At the same period BCI and BPI had a firm increase by 5.19% and 14.92% respectively, closing at 2,432 and 2,957 points. The BSI looks like it got the hardest hit from the coal export ban as it lost 9.43% since 24th of December, landing on 2,074 on Friday meanwhile BHSI also had a harsh decrease by 11.32%, landing on 1,300 points mark.

Sale and Purchase:

On the dry S&P, the Panamax “El Sol Sale” - 76K/2002 Kanasashi sold for USD 11.5mills to Chinese buyers. On the Supramax Sector, the “Sparrow” - 53K/2005 Imabari sold for USD 13.5mills. On the Handysize Sector, the “Longshore” - 34K/2010 SPP sold for high USD 15mills to European buyers.

On the Tanker sale and purchase, 2x VLCC’s changed hands. The modern Bwts & Scrubber fitted “Chloe V” - 320K/2011 Daewoo sold for USD 42mills. Furthermore, Greek buyers acquired the vintage Scrubber fitted “Argenta” - 319K/2005 Hyundai Samho for USD 31.5mills. 2x Aframaxes, the “Kazan” - 116K/2003 Hyundai Samho & the “Krymsk” - 116K/2003 HHI sold for USD 11.5 mills each. Finally, the Scrubber fitted LR1 “Torm Emilie” - 75K/2004 HHI sold for USD 13.5mills to clients of Union Petrochemical.