The global dry bulk fleet grew by its fastest rate year on in May for 27 months, while in the first six months of the year, the growth in dwt terms has exceeded 2.0%, according to a Norwegian shipping analyst and IHS Markit data.

However, IHS Markit figures also show that the Handymax fleet has bucked the trend of growth by shrinking by 3.1% in the past 12 months.

“Fleet growth has accelerated in the second qunarter of 2017 (2Q17), with May growth of about 3.9% y/y being the highest in 27 months. The reason is clearly more optimism, with deliveries speeding up and demolition lowered,” said Eirik Haavaldsen, head of research at Pareto in Oslo.

Fairplay database figures show that the global dry bulk carrier fleet now stands at 796.4 million dwt, which is 2.2% more than in a year ago. In terms of numbers of vessels, the growth has been 1.7%.

The figures show that the VLOC fleet grew by 1.1% to 62.2 million dwt, while in the Capesize category, the increase was 2.4% to 260.5 million dwt. The Post-Panamax tonnage increased by 1.5% to 38.5 million dwt and Supramax by 3.9% to 156.7 million dwt, the steepest increase in any size category.

This was contrasted by a 3.1% contraction of the Handymax fleet, to 31.2 million dwt. The average age of vessels in this category was 16 years, which was six years higher than VLOCs and Handysize vessels, which shared the second position.

The Capesize, Post-Panamax, and Panamax fleets’ average age stands at seven years, while that of the Supramax fleet is two years higher, the Fairplay figures show.

Haavaldsen notes that five Capesize vessels totalling 1 million dwt were sold for scrap in the 2Q17, a decrease from 24 in 2Q16. “With this, 3.7 million dwt of Cape-tonnage has been scrapped this year, vs. 15.4 million and 13.3 million during the whole of 2015 and (20)16 respectively,” he said in a daily market report.

“However – fleet growth will ease off from here due to the limited orderbook – though it is important to emphasise that overall fleet growth in 2017 looks set to be higher than last year due to the much more moderate scrapping activity,” he pointed out.

DS Norden, the Danish dry bulk shipping company, expects the global dry bulker fleet to grow by 3.0% this year, according to its 1Q17 interim report it released in May.

In the VLOC category, there are 51 units that are converted from tankers, with an average age of 23.8 years. This compares with 5.7 years of the purpose built VLOC fleet, BIMCO said in a report last month. The converted vessels account for 5.1 million dwt of the 62.2 million dwt total capacity of the global VLOC fleet, BIMCO, and Fairplay figures show.

In terms of age, many of the VLOCs converted from tankers could be ripe for scrapping, but as many of them operate on long-term timecharters agreed a fair while ago, they can remain profitable to their owners, despite their age.

BIMCO’s deputy secretary general Lars Robert Pedersen said in the report, ”The lifespan of a ship depends on a variety of parameters, such as maintenance, general fatigue, and the design itself. Without specific knowledge about these parameters it is impossible to draw specific conclusions on the general lifespan or projected life of any ship type.”