The faith in project cargo demand outweighing the available MPP tonnage is keeping the Toepfer Transport’s MPP Index (TMI) on the upwards trajectory. In its latest monthly briefing, the Hamburg-based shipbroker reported a TMI rise of 2.15 per cent.

TMI level for the month of August 2024, landed at $13,135 per day, despite going through a seasonal summer slowdown and a poor Atlantic market. Compared to August 2023, TMI is lagging 3.03 per cent behind.

Looking ahead, Toepfer Transport expects the TMI value to move up by 1.70 per cent in the following six months, and 3.56 per cent in August 2025.

“Amid the seasonal summer slowdown and a poor Atlantic market as opposed to persistently strong demand for MPP tonnage in the Middle East and Asia, the TMI continues to rise. Some operators take the advantage of open spot positions and secure period tonnage at healthy levels which demonstrates that there is unbroken faith in a market where breakbulk and project cargo volumes are expected to exceed a limited supply of MPP tonnage in the medium and long term,” Toepfer Transport’s research department said.

Consequently, second-hand prices for modern MPP vessels also remain elevated, particularly in the large MPP ship size segment where the availability of sales candidates remains scarce, according to Toepfer Transport’s research team.

Toepfer Transport said in its latest monthly report that the prices for 9,000 dwt, 12,500 dwt second-hand MPPs remained on the July level at $10.75 and $15.75 million, respectively. The 30,000 dwt vessels’ price ticked up to $19 million, up from $18.75 million during the previous month.

Newbuilding vessel prices were $22 million, $31.5 million and $52.5 million across the board in August. The only change was in the 30,000 dwt class with the price edging up a quarter of a million.