Greeks top list of used ship buyers

By Nikos Roussanoglou

Greek shipowners invested a total of 12.21 billion euros in the period from January to November 2014, either in ordering new ships from shipyards or on the acquisition of used vessels, according to Intermodal shipbrokers.

In the first 11 months of last year Greek shippers parted with 7.54 billion euros for the acquisition of 330 used ships and another 4.67 billion in orders for the construction of 125 vessels.

These sums take Greece to the top of the chart on the used ships market and second spot in the orders book based on the value of ships to be built for Greek owners in the coming years.

The US is a distant second in the used ships market, with 100 vessels worth 3.08 billion euros. This means Greek shippers spent more than twice the amount of their US peers, which illustrates their strong cash flow and constant efforts to benefit from the low prices on international ship markets to modernize their fleets.

In total, Greek shippers accounted for 24.7 percent of used ship acquisitions in January-November 2014, while their share of the money spent reached 33.7 percent.

Intermodal noted a sharp increase in used ship spending thanks to the improvement in the chartering market, both for tankers and dry-bulkers.