CRSL Restores Price Benchmark Publication

Following the period of financial market turbulence in September 2008, Clarkson Research Services Limited (CRSL) suspended their publication of second-hand benchmark prices in Shipping Intelligence Weekly (SIW). This action recognised the difficulties in giving a representative benchmark value to the market considering the rapidly changing price levels, low levels of sale and purchase activity, (partly due to the difficulties in securing bank finance), and wide spread of price ideas between Sellers and Buyers. To this extent, it could have been misleading to give a benchmark index valuation without proper accompanying guidance. Accordingly, as guided in SIW throughout the period of non publication of the benchmark index values, if the reader needed any valuation guidance Clarkson Valuations Limited (CVL) continued to actively provide specific valuations, including for its wide range of existing clients, and remained the leading supplier of valuations to the shipping industry. Additional wording was developed to explain the difficulties involved in the valuation process and a regular dialogue was entered into with clients to highlight the complexities and where confidence limits on valuations were wider than normal.

CRSL felt this was an important and responsible action as prices produced as benchmark figures, without suitable guidance and explanation, could have been misleading. In its first publication of 2010, CRSL resumed its publication of values in SIW – this decision was made on the basis that liqidity had returned to all the markets covered and the start year was a clean and convenient point in time to resume. The Sale and Purchase markets had returned to some form of normality with more stable pricing and greater sales volumes. These volumes culminated in December 2009 - the most active month since May 2008 across the sectors covered in the benchmark tables. The historical time series in the intervening period have been placed on Shipping Intelligence Network (SIN) but users should treat the data with caution and be aware of the periods of uncertainty discussed above.