The spike in Chinese levels and some speculative buying saw one or two units this week captured at Indian sub-continent levels.

Chyung Myung shipping or South Korea sold their second unit this year as the C. LAUREL (17,656 LDT) achieved a remarkable USD 392/LT DT (some 20/LT LDT USD ahead of reality) amidst some tierce competition amongst cash buyers as the market was peaking.

With the vessel already discharging in Norm China and becoming tree shortly, she is expected to immediately head tor a North China yard (in the Shanghai region). However, at the time of writing, it was not clear whether she had been onward sold at levels anywhere near the purchase price.

In the usual sealed bid format, CPC of Taiwan sold their VLCC DAR YUN (34,256 LDT), gas free for man entry only 'as is' in Taiwan for LTSD 375/LT LDT. It is expected she will head to one of the larger South China yards rather than risk the sub-continent at this stage, with the amount of cleaning required to make her gas free for hot works and acceptable to import into the sub-continent.

A note of caution was issued come the end of the week in China though as levels dipped once again unable to sustain the spike and speculation of the previous few weeks. The fate of certain high priced sales at this stage remains uncertain as a result.