Geopolitical events continue to shape ship recycling

“We see geopolitical events taking center stage across all shipping sectors (trade and recycling) for another week,” says cash buyer GMS. This is expected to continue throughout Q3 and possibly into Q4.

GMS cites as examples events such as the assassination of one of Hezbollah’s founding members in the heart of the Iranian capital, Tehran, rocket fire into Israel and expected further Houthi attacks on ships.

In addition, there is social unrest in Bangladesh, where hundreds of deaths have been reported.

“The ongoing fallout from the Indian general election and the recent budget announcement has left Alang recyclers increasingly worried about their country’s immediate economic future, especially as India’s fundamentals have been suffering for weeks,” GMS says. “Even Pakistani buyers, despite being at the top of the market rankings, have nothing to show for it, as there have been no new arrivals at the Gadani jetty for almost four weeks.”

Local steel plate prices remain volatile, and ship recycling currencies have fallen against the US dollar, further driving ship recycling sentiment into the depths of uncertainty. “Accordingly, the slowdown in tonnage due to events in the Middle East, coupled with the start of the summer holidays for the shipping fraternity, means that ship recycling efforts will see less and less attention this month, especially as ship prices and demand remain subdued.”

GMS demo rankings and prices for week 31 of 2024 are as follows: