The tough economic environment that the shipping industry is facing has led Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) to add lay-up services and green recycling to its scope of ship management services.
As owners decide to lay up their vessels as their operation is deemed uneconomical, BSM opted to tap into the potential of this market by including lay-up services, with advice on the best options for lay-up and the appropriate procedures that need to be followed for different types of lay-up, whether warm or cold.
BSM said that it will manage the lay-up process, including location selection, declaration for shareholders, ship inspections and on-board watches.
BSM’s green recycling service, which will be provided by Schulte Marine Concept, would offer ship demolition in compliance with the IMO’s Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.
The current depression in the offshore industry has forced shipowners to lay up their assets, as some 100 offshore vessels have been laid up only in the North Sea region, according to Westshore shipbroker.
The situation with containership is not much better as the global idle containership fleet at the end of December 2015 hit a record high with a total capacity of 1.36 million TEU, five times more compared to 0.23 million TEU at the beginning of 2015, analyst Alphaliner reports.
According to the latest reports from Clarksons Platou Securities, the number of bulkers “potentially” in layup had passed 100 vessels, representing 0.85% of the global bulker fleet.
Due to an oversupply in the industry, analysts believe that the current freight rates will remain low as the shipowners are choosing lay-up instead of demolition of older tonnage.