Shipping ( Bulk Carrier) - Vessel Scrapping

All commercial vessels have a finite life and the average age at which dry bulk carriers have been scrapped over the last five years is 26 years.

Vessel owners often conclude that it is more economical to scrap a vessel that has exhausted its useful life than to upgrade the vessel to maintain it “in-class.” A vessel is deemed to be “in class” if the surveyors of a classification society determine that the vessel conforms to the standards and rules of that classification society. Scrapping is nonetheless also a function of the strength of the freight market and during periods of high freight rates such as 2004 and 2005, scrapping levels in the dry bulk sector were low by historical standards.

The following table provides a summary of dry bulk carrier scrapping, by vessel type, for the period 2001 to 2006.