The secondhand tanker market has been one of the more active corners of global shipping in 2025, with Clarksons Research recording 409 vessels totaling 44.5 million dwt and $13.9 billion in transaction value sold so far this year. That represents a 27% increase in dwt terms against the 2024 run rate - a meaningful jump in physical volume. The dollar figure, though, tells a more complicated story: value is up only 3% year-on-year, a gap that reflects a market where more tonnage is changing hands at lower prices per unit.
More Ships, Less Money Per Ship
Clarksons' five-year-old tanker secondhand price index has averaged 10% lower in 2025 than in 2024. That compression matters for how you read the headline numbers. Buyers are absorbing significantly more deadweight tonnage without committing proportionally more capital - which points either to opportunistic acquisition strategies, a rotation toward older or smaller vessels, or both. What's striking here is the partial recovery: prices have ticked up 5% since September, suggesting the floor may have been reached and sentiment is cautiously firming heading into year-end.
VLCCs illustrate the dynamic well. According to VesselsValue, 20-year-old, 310,000 dwt vessels appreciated 7.27% month-on-month in December alone, moving from $40.28 million to $43.21 million. Older tonnage - the kind that would struggle in a stringent compliance environment - is clearly in demand. The most plausible explanation is tight availability of vessels that meet emissions and sanctions-compliance requirements, pushing buyers toward ships they might otherwise have passed over.
Headline Deals Reflect the Broader Pattern
The transaction roster this month underlines where the activity is concentrated. NYK's disposal of the 19-year-old Towada VLCC for $45.7 million is consistent with major Japanese owners continuing to recycle aging assets at prices that would have looked ambitious two years ago. Cido Shipping's en bloc sale of the Mermaid Hope and Mercury Hope - both 14-year-old VLCCs - for a combined $120 million signals that mid-aged paired assets, sold together, still command serious numbers when the buyer can absorb the package.
En bloc deals deserve a note. Selling two or more vessels together compresses price discovery for each individual ship but accelerates capital return for the seller and simplifies fleet planning for the buyer. In a market where freight earnings have softened from their 2023-2024 peaks, owners with non-core assets have clear incentive to monetize now rather than wait for a rate cycle that may not materialize quickly.
Bulkers and Containers Round Out a Broad Market
The dry bulk segment has been quieter by deal count - just 14 bulkers changed hands in the first half of December - though not for lack of underlying economic logic. Freight markets and time charter rates remain solid, which creates a seller's dilemma: why sell an asset generating strong income today? That tension tends to thin transaction flow even when asset values are elevated.
Capesize values have moved nonetheless. VesselsValue data shows 20-year-old, 180,000 dwt vessels up 5.42% since the start of December, from $18.08 million to $19.06 million. NGM Shipping's sale of the 14-year-old Japanese-built Pacifist cape for $32 million - against an acquisition cost of approximately $19 million five years ago - is a clean illustration of the capital gains available to owners who bought during the market's lower period. That kind of return attracts asset-play operators and keeps pricing firm even when deal volume is modest.
The container sector presents its own split. Charter rates are holding at elevated levels - up 35% versus the one-year time charter average for 2024, according to Alphaliner - while global spot container rates have dropped sharply, down 45% year-over-year as per Drewry. Those two numbers can coexist because charter rates reflect medium-term commitments made when the market was tighter; spot rates reflect current supply-demand imbalance. The en bloc sale of the Cypress, Koi and Lotus A sister ships - 8,568 teu vessels - to Global Ship Lease for $90 million, bundled with a time charter to CMA CGM, is precisely the kind of deal that makes sense in this environment: the seller books a clean exit, the buyer secures both the asset and the revenue stream in one transaction.
What the Full Picture Suggests
Taken together, 2025's secondhand shipping activity reflects a market recalibrating after two years of exceptional asset inflation. Buyers are active - more active by volume than in 2024 - but disciplined on price. Sellers with older or non-core tonnage are moving assets while liquidity remains available. The 5% price recovery since September suggests the market isn't in freefall; it's digesting a correction and finding a new equilibrium. Whether that equilibrium holds through 2026 will depend on how freight fundamentals develop, how aggressively owners manage capacity, and whether geopolitical disruptions continue to generate demand for tonnage that might otherwise sit idle. For now, as Alphaliner put it, sale and purchase is ending the year in a notably cheerful mood.
