The Frenzied Ship Building Market

Even as the lull of August manifests itself in the empty desks of colleagues on vacation and voice mail messages in place of a real voice on the phone, vessel prices for all ship sizes continue to rise. Contributing factors include high steel prices and lack of available berth space in shipyards as well as owners wanting to purchase vessels to take advantage of high oil demand and a rise in OPEC production. Newbuilding prices on VLCCs are up by $30 million from last year; $14 million for Suezmaxes; $15 million for Aframaxes and $7 million for Panamax vessels. Download here