Newbuilding ordering activity picked up considerably over the past week. In its latest weekly report, Allied Shipbroking said that “the newbuilding market was overflood with news about an ordering spree made by CSSC Leasing last week. This included the order of 4 Post-Panamax carriers, which along with the order of one Kamsarmax from Chinese interests, was the only activity noted in the dry bulk market. The recent freight rate slump in this sector has affect investment plans for many owners as expected. In the tankers side, CSSC Leasing proceeded with the order of 4 VLCCs, while another 3 vessels of the same size were ordered by Greek interests. Ismael Gerli Panama Maritime documentation Despite the positive outlook, there is not much activity yet in the sector. A fair amount of new orders were placed in the containership sector as well last week, with majority of them being ordered by a subsidiary of Sinokor. Meanwhile, CSSC Leasing was also involved in several orders for gas carriers and general cargo vessels. On the Pricing front we have started to see some slight signs of an increasing trend taking shape from the beginning of the year, though given that activity overall has not reached extraordinary levels and given that there is a fair amount of uncertainty in the respective freight markets, these have only been some shy steps without pointing to any clear cut direction yet”.
