Inland Pushboat Market Report - November 2017

Following is a breakdown of pushboats Marcon has available for sale worldwide. Most of these are typical U.S. inland river units, although there are a few foreign pushboats listed from Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Market Overview

Of the 13,322 vessels (excluding barges) Marcon currently tracks, 746 are inland river pushboats with 113 officially on the market for sale (95 U.S. flag and 18 foreign flag). Fourteen of the boats with age listed were built within the last ten years. 44 boats are forty-five years of age or older. The oldest listed is a 1939-built 1,700BHP, 94 foot pushboat which has been rebuilt and repowered many times since and is still going strong. This is counterbalanced by a new U.S.-built 3,000HP, 102' inland river pushboat. Marcon also has 19 inland river pushboats listed for charter - 14 U.S. and five foreign.

Inland river push boats officially on the market for sale in total is 113, the highest we have reported since February 2003. This is 34, or 43.04%, more than one year ago in November 2016 and 23 more than in November 2012. Composition of horsepower range in the last year has changed with the biggest shifts being 19 more under 1,000HP with an average age of 1978, 13 more under 1-2,000HP (1972) and five more 2-3,000HP (1981) push boats offered. Same as one year ago, we have listed four 6-7,000HP push boats with an average age of 2013, which is a sharp age contrast to the rest of our listings. As of this report, only 15.04% of the push boats available are less than 10 years old, less than the 16.46% reported last year but higher than the 12.22% reported five years ago. In today's market many additional vessels, probably equal to or greater than the number "officially" listed can be developed on a private & confidential basis - just a phone call or e-mail away. We have not yet seen as much scrapping in the inland push boat market as we have elsewhere, but we know Owners who are laying-up and looking to dispose of select idle / under-utilized tonnage or non-core assets because of the present and potential future market conditions.

Of the vessels listed for sale, CAT engines are most popular with machinery in 39 vessels. These are followed by Cummins in 26, GM / Detroit Diesels in 14, nine with Mitsubishi, eight unknown, five each with EMDs and John Deere and seven with other engine types ranging from Alco to Volvo/Volvo Penta. Engine composition is consistent when compared to November 2016, though the use of Cummins main engines has risen while use of EMDs have fallen since November 2012. Most of the inland river pushboats Marcon has listed for sale are located in the U.S. with 95 vessels or 84%; followed by 13 or 11% in Europe, three in the Caribbean and two in Latin America. As would be expected, this distribution is fairly consistent with one and five years ago, where 83% and 90% of pushboats were located in the U.S.

Actual sale prices of all vessels and barges sold by Marcon so far in 2017 have averaged 77.05% of asking prices, compared to 2016's 91.70%. As reported previously, the market remains flat, with an increase in listings. Market outlook is stable, but regretfully with few buyers and utilization remaining low due to the slowdown in coal, oil and other commodities.

 

Commercial Marine Brokers since 1981