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A year has passed since the COP26 in Glasgow and the war in Ukraine along, with the energy crisis, have put on hold most of the decisions of the conference.

A year has passed since the COP26 in Glasgow and the war in Ukraine along, with the energy crisis, have put on hold most of the decisions of the conference. Now from 6th to 18th November, head of states, ministers, climate activists and CEOs are meeting in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh for the annual gathering on climate action, the COP27. The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) builds on the outcomes of COP26 to deliver action on an array of issues critical to tackling climate challenges. Faced with a growing energy crisis, record greenhouse gas concentrations, and increasing extreme weather events, COP27 seeks renewed solidarity between countries to deliver on the landmark Paris Agreement. But this year the absence of US and China, the two countries with the largest CO2 emissions, does not leave much room for optimism for the outcome of the Conference, but there is a possibility that Joe Biden & Xi Jinping will meet at the G20 meeting and discuss issues about climate policy among others.

As the 5th of December is approaching, it is yet to be seen how the wet market will adapt to the EU Russian oil sanctions. The UK, US and EU, hubs of several maritime insurance companies will not permit insurance cover for ships carrying Russian oil. While mainstream insurance companies will stay in line with the sanctions, there are several smaller entities in Asia that will try to fill the gap. There are several insurance providers in China which would be eager to offer insurance services to Russian cargoes and in smaller amounts than usual. Commodity analysts across Asia say that, apart from the insurance solution that will be provided to Russian cargoes, they will not slow down the supply of Russian oil. Russia has already emerged as the largest supplier of crude to India, a far cry from the pre-war era when it barely had a presence in India's import basket, while Chinese refiners clearly favour cheap Russian crude oil over long-haul Brazilian oil, having replaced in 2022 almost 50 million barrels of Brazilian oil imports with the same amount of Russian oil.

As the first ten months of 2022 have passed and the year end is approaching, it is a good opportunity to have a look to the newbuildings orderbook. The bulker, tanker, container and gas carrier orderbooks are totalling 2,547 orders. This number is just 100 orders less than in May 2022 when the sum of all 4 major orderbooks hit the highest level since December 2016. Greek controlled orders are evenly spread over the segments, as 234 orders are almost equally divided between bulker, tanker, container and gas carriers with 21% of the orders being placed for bulkers, 26% for tankers, 29% for containers and the remaining 24%, in gas carriers.

More specifically, analysing the bulker orderbook, Greek owners have placed 48 orders (approximately 5%) while 826 orders are placed from owners of different nationalities. Only 18 of these 48 orders were placed in 2022, with the rest being placed during 2019-2020 period. Greek owners placing dry orders, show preference of Kamsarmaxes, which consist of 53% of the total Greek bulker orders, with Handymax/Supramax/Ultramaxes in second place at 35%, the smallest bulker sizes of Handysize are at 8% and Capes are only 4% of the Greek orders. Analysing the Tanker’s orderbook, Greek orders total 19% of the orderbook. Greek owners have placed 62 orders while 257 orders are from other nationalities. 15 out of the 62 orders are placed in 2022, 39 were placed in 2021 and the remaining 8 in 2020. Greeks show a preference for Aframax/LR2 vessel sizes, as 55% of their orders are for that type/size of tankers, with MR2 orders following at 26% of the total Greek orders. VLCCs are about 13% of the Greek orders with Suezmax and MR1s at 5% and 2% respectively of the Greek orders.

In the container orderbook, Greek orders are about 8% of the total, translating into 69 vessels and the rest 92% are orders from other nationalities. Almost half of the 66 Greek orders were placed within 2022 (34), while 32 out of 69 were placed within 2020 and only 3 orders are active since 2019. The feeder size accounts for 55% of the total Greek orders while VLCV is the second preferable container size on order at 19% followed by handy, with 14% of the Greek orders and Panamax, 12% of the Greek orders. Finally in the gas orderbook, there are 55 orders from Greek owners and 383 orders from others. 13% of the gas carriers orderbook is Greek controlled with 14 orders being placed within 2022, 36 orders placed within 2021 and the remaining 5 orders being active since 2019-2020. 62% of the Greek orders are LNG Carriers with 101k-200k CBM capacity, 22% of the Greek orders are medium sized LPG carriers (MGC) of circa 40k CBM capacity and the rest 16% are very large LPG carriers (VLGC) of 80k-95k CBM capacity.

Sale and Purchase:

Although during the past 2 weeks the dry bulk market has entered a downward trend, with the BDI being down by 27%, the S&P activity has not lost its momentum. The BCI has decreased by 35% during the past 2 weeks, we noted 3x Capesizes which found new owners during the past week though. The “True Patriot” - 181K/2016 Imabari was sold for region USD 40 mills, while the five-year older BWTS fitted “Edward N”- 176K/2011 SWS was sold for USD 23 mills to Taiwanese buyers and the “Aquafortune”- 175K/2011 Namura that changed hands for USD 27 mills. In the Ultramax sector, Chinese buyers acquired the “Caro Padre” - 63K/2012 Yangzhou Dayang for excess of USD 21 mills. The Supramax sector had the highest activity, as almost half of this week’s sales belonged to that sector. The Electronic M/E BWTS fitted Supramax “Bulk Carina” - 58K/2016 Tsuneishi Cebu changed hands for USD 22 mills basis prompt delivery in Taiwan. Furthermore, Chinese buyers acquired the BWTS fitted “Fanoula” - 57K/2008 IHI for USD 16 mills, while the four-year older BWTS fitted “Azzura”- 52K/2004 IHI was sold for mid/high USD 12 mills.

On the tanker S&P activity remains quite strong, with the majority of vessels that changed hands being Ice classed. On the Suezmax sector, the Scrubber fitted “Ridgebury Nicholas A” - 159K/2007 Universal found new owners for USD 34 mills. The BWTS fitted LR1 “Liberty” - 75K/2009 STX was sold for USD 23 mills. The same vessel had sold for region USD 15.5 mills back in March 2022. Far Easter buyers acquired 2x Ice class 1B, CPP trading MR1 vessels, the “PSS Vitality” - 37K/2002 HMD & the “PSS Energy” - 37K/2001 HMD for USD 25 mills enbloc. Last but not least, 2x Ice classed 1A Chemicals, the “Bro Anna”- 17K/2008 Gemak Sanayi & the “Bro Agnes”- 17K/2008 Turkter Tersane rumored sold to clients of Stenersen for USD 27 mills enbloc.

Xclusiv Shipbrokers Inc.