Current Market Reports

Marcon reports 225 crew, fast supply and pilot boats officially on the market for sale out of 1,152 tracked worldwide. Marcon sold a 16.7m 2009-built crew boat between South American parties recently. Unfortunately, nothing has really changed in the market since our March 2019 report. The market is as bad or worse than it has been since 2015 and there is no improvement in sight. As brokers we are aware of some other sales, but these are far and few between and at greatly reduced prices.

Marcon reports 556 tugs officially on the market for sale out of 5,038 tracked. This is down 6.3% from one year ago, mostly due to scrapping of older, lower horsepower tugs. There is still demand for good, higher horsepower, modern tugs, especially ASDs. As of end August, Marcon has sold six tugs so far this year with an average price per BHP of $381.50 and an average age of 39 years. Two tugs abt. 21 years old sold for region $1,400-$1,500/BHP; two, 41 and 53 years old, were the right boats, in right places, at right times sold for $347/BHP and $485/BHP, respectively. Two others regrettably only sold for $5/BHP.

In August 2019, Marcon reported 97 push boats officially on the market for sale out of 774 tracked. This is down 12 from our last report published in February 2019, six less than one year ago, August 2018, and 12 more than August 2014. The average age of all push boats in the market through Marcon is 47 years, compared to 48 years one year ago and 40 years old five years ago. We have seen continued scrapping, especially within fleets trying to consolidate after recent mergers. Major owners reported tight market conditions and increased utilization for second quarter 2019.

As of June, Marcon reports 275 supply and tug supply boats officially on the market for sale out of 2,998 tracked. This is down 32 vessels or 10.42% from one year ago. The few sales there have been of OSVs remain at deeply discounted levels. It seems the longer the market takes to come back, even bargain prices are not enough to attract buyers. In the meantime, vessels languish on the market for years with market prices dropping, all while Mother Nature takes her toll on condition, further discounting the vessels' values.

As of April, Marcon reports 59 tank barges officially on the market for sale out of 692 tracked. The market for US tank barges, both inland and coastal, shows some signs of improvement over last year in regards to general utilization levels, but sales between US Buyers and Sellers remain few.