The average age of capesizes headed for the scrapyard fell by four years in 2015 as dry bulk shipping faced unprecedented headwinds.

In a report Bimco said that the average age of capesize scrapped in 2015 was under 21 years compared to nearly 25 years old in 2014. Capesizes accounted for more than half of dry bulk scrapping in 2015 in deadweight terms with 15.5m dwt scrapped out of a total dry bulk demolition volume of 30m dwt.

Peter Sand chief shipping analyst for Bimco said: “The extensive demolition activity within the dry bulk shipping industry is expected to continue to climb through 2016. So far, the year has already started well with 4.6m dwt scrapped in January alone.”

While saying it was a welcome development Sand added, “a lot more ships need to be scrapped in order to improve on the unfavourable market conditions present in the dry bulk market”.