A seven-year-old containership has set a new unfortunate record. The 2009-built India Rickmers built in China is being sent for scrap. Owned by Rickmers Shipmanagement, brokers report the 4,250 teu ship managed to get a very firm price of $325 per ldt for its scrapping.

With panamax vessels now worth little more than scrap 2016 has seen record volumes of containerships scrapped. The India Rickmers sets a new record however – the previous youngest ships scrapped were all built in 2006.

In the first 10 months of the year a record 500,000 teu has been scrapped, 4.2 times more teu than the scrapping activity for the same months in 2015, according to Bimco.

With the last three months accounting for more than 41\% of the total demolition in 2016, the activity is picking up and is primarily generated by the panamax container ships. The demolition of panamax containerships in teu accounts for 47\% of the total demolition in 2016.

“This new mentality shows a recognition that market cyclicality will not come to the rescue – restoring the markets requires action on the part of the vessel owners, and gradually that action is now being taken,” Splash regular container commentator, Lars Jensen, said.

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