Poor prospects for the panamax market allied with strong scrap prices contributed to the demolition sale of the 75,800-dwt Taskent (built 2003), brokers say.
It is joined by Deniz Nakliyati stable mate, the 76,000-dwt Alma Ata (built 1999), on its journey to the scrap heap, sources suggest.
One broker tells TradeWinds the Turkish build of the vessels, coupled with the weak environment and the high fuel consumption made the ships “unfixable”.
With the outlook for the panamax sector particularly weak given the influx of newbuildings due this year, now is considered a good time to demolish the ships, sources say.
A price of $400 per ldt is paced on the Taskent sale with $440 per ldt paid for the Alma Ata. This prices the ships at $6.28m and $6.86m respectively.
Brokers note given the $9.6m AM Nomikos paid for the 72,400-dwt Co-op Phoenix (built 1999) last week, the two Nakliyati bulkers would not have fetched much more if they were sold for further trading.
Both the Taskent and Alma Ata have been available in the second hand market for the past year, sources suggest.
Japanese pair NYK and MOL led the way with the scrapping of late 1990s built VLCCs and capesizes last year to help battle oversupply in both sectors.
