Consequently and unsurprisingly, 2018s summer inertia continued for yet another week, with increasingly fewer units being proposed/negotiated for sale, GMS said.
There finally seems to be some good news coming out of Pakistan last week, as Imran Khan’s party won the local elections. It is hoped that this in turn will have a knock-on effect for the country overall - in terms of business & economic optimism.
Notwithstanding, the recent domestic developments still remain confused, as far as cutting permissions for recently delivered tankers are concerned.
It is rumoured that the requested issuance of gas free certificates from the explosives department in Islamabad has been postponed once again, until the relevant representatives re-inspect all tankers beached locally, a procedure that is expected to commence on 13th August.
As such, interest from Pakistan for any available dry units has escalated in recent weeks, the ongoing dearth of which has left Gadani Buyers increasingly frustrated as the weeks go by.
In India, the trucker’s strike was finally called off last week as business and transportation of product from local yards resumed. Yet, prices failed to improve in line with expectations and Alang Buyers struggled to acquire any notable units for another week.
Bangladesh has also been gripped by student strikes, as the focus in all sub-continent locations now seems to be shifting away from ship recycling. Constant monsoon rains have persisted into August and Eid holidays are also on the horizon, further dampening any interest that may have surfaced.
Finally, Turkey’s record-breaking Lira collapse and subsequent price decline have further dampened the overall (ship-recycling) sentiment on a global scale, given that China might as well be written off since only one domestic recycling yard can secure tonnage, albeit less than 15,000 LDT.
There were no large tankers reported sold for demolition on the brokers’ reports this week.