Ship chartering

Greek shipowners have invested more than $10.4 billion in vessel acquisitions in the year to date, according to shipbroker data.

Allied Shipbroking reports that the value of used ships acquired within 2018 has already reached $4.368 billion, while Golden Destiny said that the value of newbuilds ordered up until October amounted to $6.07 billion.

Greek shipowners remained at the top of the chart for buyers of second-hand ships over the first quarter of the year.

The prices of the most popular dry-bulk carriers, those in the Capesize and Panamax categories, have posted an increase of 20 percent within just one month, which according to shipbrokers Intermodal is an impressive hike. This concerns modern ships that traditionally concentrate the bulk of demand - particularly among Greek shipowners.

Greek shipowners returned to the buying market in October as they acquired a total of 26 vessels, against seven in September and 10 in October 2015, data by Golden Destiny shipbrokers showed.

Greek shipowners are now fully abstaining from ordering new vessels. Last month not a single order was placed by Greek shippers with international shipyards, a first since early 2009, when the global maritime trade experienced its worst ever crisis.

By Nikos Roussanoglou

Greek shipowners invested a total of 1.7 billion euros in March and April alone in newbuild orders ? mainly tankers at Asian shipyards ? as shipbrokers? data show. This constitutes a marked increase in investing in this particular market compared with previous months.

By Nikos Roussanoglou

Greek shipowners paid a total of more than 1.17 billion euros in the month of May for the acquisition of 54 ships, according to data from Golden Destiny shipbrokers.