The Greek shipbroking company RS Platou recently pointed out in its latest monthly report that although the dry bulk shipping market is facing an excessive number of new ships, the global shipowners are carrying on low prices and have been re-ordered in the first 8 months of this year. The 54 million dwt dry bulk bulk carrier is further intensifying the pressure on the supply capacity.

The proportion of dry bulk carriers accumulated in existing fleets remained above 50% at the end of last year, and the oversupply of new ships has clearly appeared. However, shipowners still ordered a large number of new vessels earlier this year, which Platou analysts believe The situation is caused by several major reasons.

First, during the period, the dry bulk shipping market was relatively stable. In particular, the time chartered leases did not exhibit much fluctuations in the rents, so that the charterers’ income would remain at a reasonable level. The second is that the price of new ships has dropped significantly compared with the same period in 2008. Many shipowners have determined that the price of new ships has already bottomed out, so they will start buying ships at low prices. Third, some ship owners expected that the delivery rate of new ships on schedule was only 63% this year, which means that the overall fleet capacity growth rate was not as high as expected, so it was safe to expand the fleet.

The company also pointed out in particular that many of the orders for dry bulk carriers that were added at the beginning of the year were many Chinese shipbuilders commissioned Chinese shipyards to make orders, mainly Panamax ships and even smaller boats. According to the report, most of the vessels will be used in the growing Chinese coastal trade market.

In summary, after Platou ordered new ships for the first eight months of this year, it was discovered that global shipowners have ordered 54 million dwt dry bulk new ships during the period, which is equivalent to double the average of the same period over the past 10 years. The pressure to display new ships on the charter market is increasing.