No newbuild contracts were placed in March, this reflects the trend seen for the year to date as no newbuild contracts have yet been placed. Despite the lack of activity, the newbuilding price firmed by $0.5m m-o-m to $64.5m. Two vessels were sold in the secondhand market in March, despite this healthy level of activity the price for a 5-year-old 70,000 dwt Panamax softened $3m m-o-m to $59m. The price for a 15-year-old, 65,000 dwt vessel kept at a steady level at $17m. One vessel was scrapped in March, and as the metal scrap price firmed 20% to $500/ldt due to a lack of steel supply the scrap value of a Panamax tanker increased from $6.1m in February to $7.3m in March. Despite the scrapping activity, the fleet grew to 24.4m dwt in March. By end 2008, the fleet is forecast to grow to 26.2m dwt, this is largely on the back of a heavy delivery schedule.
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