A landmark deal was undertaken today in the containership industry as the youngest ever containership was reportedly sent for demolition by Singapore’s Rickmers Marine Trust, according to VesselsValue.
The vessel in question is the seven-year-old Panamax boxship India Rickmers, which was built in 2009 by China’s shipbuilder Jiangsu New Yangzijiang.
The 4,250 TEU vessel is valued just above scrap at USD 5.87 million. In 2016 the vessel fell 62% in value.
However, Rickmers Maritime said that, as the company is currently in negotiations over a potential debt settlement agreement, “no sale of the vessel has been concluded.”
“This year the average change in value in the containership sector is -26% to put this figure in perspective. The main reason for this is that these vessels are becoming defunct now that the Panama Canal has been widened,” VesselsValue said.
Since 2 years before the first transit of the new locks which happened a couple of months ago, 2009-built Panamax containers dropped in value by two thirds.