Greek shipowners are spending heavily on renewing their fleet, with the goal of boosting their long-term profits.
Orders of new ships and acquisitions of older vessels will top $14 billion in 2026. At the same time, shipowners are taking advantage of the extended rally in the secondary ship market to sell their old vessels and gain much-needed liquidity.
According to ship broker Allied QuantumSea, which records such transactions on a rolling 12-month basis, Greek-owned shipping companies sold 316 ships on the secondary market, of which 164 were dry bulk carriers, 117 tankers, 22 container ships and 9 gas carriers in the 12 months ending July. The next largest sellers were Chinese- and Japanese-owned companies, with 156 and 152 vessels, respectively.
Greek shippers were also top in the acquisition of secondhand vessels with 229 (120 bulk carriers, 86 tankers, 18 container ships and 1 gas carrier), slightly ahead of Chinese firms, with 212 vessels.
That the secondary ship market is trading at record highs is shown by the fact that prices of 10-year-old VLCC tankers rose 53% year-on-year, to nearly $133 million, and those of 15-year-old vessels shot up 72%, to $100 million. Among bulk carriers, prices of 10-year-old Kamsarmax (80,000-82,000 deadweight tons) and Ultramax (60-65,000 dwt), rose 22% and 29%, respectively. All these rises provided strong incentives to sell.
