VesselsValue: Who Are the Best Negotiators in Shipping?

The regions of Scandinavia, the Mediterranean and France-Belgium were the best negotiators in terms of vessel buying activity between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2016, according to the first Country Overview Report issued by VesselsValue (VV).

A ‘good negotiation’ could be assessed by comparing the difference between the VV Market Value on the day of the sale and the reported sale price. Therefore, the best negotiator is the one who paid below the fair market rate at the time.

The performance of the different markets in the future will determine if the purchases were really good, according to VV.

The chart gives an indication of which geographical regions bought vessels at a discount.

In the tables below, VV has measured the difference between the reported purchase price and the market value on the day of the sale. A good negotiation could be said to be one where the difference is significantly below the market value, i.e. – 5 percent or lower.

The OSV sector has been a source of rich pickings for North European ship owners looking for bargains. On the bulker side, the “savings” are equal to the current market value of two, five-year Panamax bulkers (USD 15 million each), the report says.

Looking at individual countries in North Europe, Germany was the best negotiator, buying a total of 68 vessels at a price 4 percent below the VV market value.

On the other hand, the United Kingdom was the biggest spender but the worst negotiator, paying 11 percent over the market value for 60 vessels.

Image Courtesy: VesselsValue