Average bulker demolition age continues to fall

The average demolition age of dry bulk carriers fell its lowest in five years, according to international shipping association, BIMCO, on the back of record scrapping rates in 1Q16.

“The decrease in ship demolition age continued from 2015,” said BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, Peter Sand. “At an average of 23.3 yrs today, demolition age has decreased by 20.5% over the past four years.”

Average demolition age. (Source: BIMCO, Clarksons).

The average demolition of most ship sizes has fallen significantly since 2014. Capesize ships have the lowest average demolition age at about 20.5 yrs, down from around 24.5 yrs in 2014.

It is handmax and panamax ships that have seen the biggest falls recent, however, with panamax average demolition ages now not far behind capesize at around 21 yrs and handymax average demolition ages now well under 23 yrs compared to around 27 yrs in 2014.

Only handysize demolition ages remain significantly higher than the industry average at around 29 yrs. Handysize scrapping rates have also fallen off significantly in 2016 at 9.5% of total scrapping over the first four months of the year compared to 18.1% over the same period in 2015.

Edited by Jonathan Rowland.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/handling/31052016/average-bulker-demolition-age-continues-to-fall-2016-859/