Company: CMDB
Filing Date: 2025-04-23
Form Type: 20FR12B/A
Source: 0001140361-25-015197
Chunk: 160

Company: Costamare Bulkers Holdings Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-04-23
Form: 20FR12B/A
Chunk 160
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” trend has been seen in recent decades, helping to increase economies of scale in dry bulk trade. The size of the average dry bulk vessel has increased from just under 50,000 dwt in 2000, to just over 60,000 dwt by 2010, and approximately 74,000 dwt by early 2025. This reflects the fact that amongst the firmest growth in global seaborne dry bulk trade since 2000 has been in iron ore and coal trade; dominated by the larger Capesize and Panamax sectors, but also the continued evolution and upsizing of vessel designs within individual dry bulk vessel sectors. In recent years, the majority of newbuilding activity in the Panamax sector, for example, has been for “Kamsarmax” (approximately 82,000 dwt) designs, rather than older “standard” Panamaxes of approximately 75,000 dwt. Older designs of less than 70,000 dwt were once the standard in the sector, prior to 2000. Similarly, in the Capesize sector, Newcastlemaxes of approximately 205-210,000 dwt now dominate the orderbook, while “standard” Capesizes of approximately 180,000 dwt are the most populous designs in the fleet. Similar trends are also clear in the Handysize and Handymax sectors.

Fleet Age & Scrapping

Levels of dry bulk vessel scrapping are driven by demand for steel scrap and available scrap price levels, as well as the age profile of the fleet, movements in dry bulk shipping earnings, and increasingly the environmental regulatory agenda. Across 2000-2024, an average of 183 dry bulk vessels (of approximately 10.7 million dwt) were scrapped per year, though this can vary significantly with market conditions; just 18 ships of 0.5 million dwt were scrapped in 2007 (during the “super-cycle” which saw historically elevated earnings), while 590 ships of 33.3 million dwt were scrapped in 2012 in the wake of the global financial crisis and the significant market oversupply that followed.

With generally improving dry bulk shipping market conditions in recent years, demolition in the sector has been limited, with an average of just 66 ships (4.7 million dwt) scrapped per annum across 2021-24; just 66 dry bulk vessels of 3.8 million dwt were sold for scrap in 2024 amid generally positive vessel earnings