With China down and India appearing to reach some sort of stability, Bangladesh was caught somewhere in the middle, picking up vessels that were either diverted from West Coast India, or those discharging in East Coast India/Chittagong waters.

There was a specific demand from one or 2 of the end buyers emerging from their most recent binge on units, but overall, many yards in Chittagong remain relatively well stocked as most of the preferred larger units generally take many months to digest and free up valuable yard space.

Of course, those units taken in during the monsoon season take far longer to cut given the seasonal migration of labor and the incessant rains hardly helping to expedite the process It is therefore unlikely that we will see a major spike in levels before the end of the year as only a few open buyers are expected to emerge and take in tonnage before quietly sitting back until the next round of buying commences again.

Meanwhile, many cash buyers are still reeling from the most recent reversal in prices with several vessels still at anchorage waiting to deliver or facing Letter of Credit delays or renegotiations.

Two vessels concluded this week displayed a greater bullishness on price for various reasons with the full spares Taiwanese owned bulker KEE LUNG obtaining USD 415/LT LDT and the favored Ukrainian built Okean type bulker LIMNOS fetching a firm USD 415/LT LDT as well.

Market sales reported