Bulkseas Marine Management has acquired its second kamsarmax this year, lending further impetus to an impressive buying spree by Greeks for this type of vessel.
Managers at the Meimetis family company confirmed to TradeWinds it has purchased the 82,200-dwt Leda (built 2013) for $16.7m. The ship was previously controlled by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.
The Tsuneishi Shipbuilding-built Leda is equipped with a ballast water treatment system and has no special survey scheduled for three years.
This is the second ship that Bulkseas has acquired this year as it renews its fleet. The first, the 83,700-dwt Ikan Bagang (built 2009), was a Japanese-built kamsarmax for which the Piraeus-based company paid about $12.5m for in August. It has been renamed Vela Star.
Low-profile owner Stavros Meimetis has decades of experience in shipping. He was head of Corner Shipping before founding Bulkseas in 2011.
Greeks have bought about 25 kamsarmaxes so far this year on the secondhand market, according to data compiled by TradeWinds. That accounts for more than one-fifth of the 112 bulkers that Hellenic players have acquired so far this year.
This makes Greeks the world's biggest buyers, with Athens broker Intermodal estimating they account for 70% of all kamsarmaxes acquired globally in the sale-and-purchase market in 2020.
Almost all Greek kamsarmax buying occurred after June, as the first wave of the coronavirus earlier in the year crippled buyers’ confidence or disrupted the necessary travel to conduct inspections.
Greeks have invested about $430m in kamsarmaxes this year, according to TradeWinds' calculations. That is nearly one-third of the $1.4bn they spent overall on bulkers, according to Athens-based Allied Research.
The higher share in terms of value reflects their above-average size and quality. The kamsarmaxes Greeks acquired are on average 9.5 years old, according to TradeWinds' calculations. Thirteen of the 25 were built in Japan, which generally produces vessels prized highly in the secondhand market.
Eight of the nine Chinese-built ships that Greeks acquired have come from a single seller, Scorpio Bulkers.
The undisputed king of Greek kamsarmax buying has been Dimitris Procopiou, whose company Centrofin Management picked up six such ships, spending an estimated $110m in the process.
Even players usually not associated with bulkers have been taking part in the feast. Hermes Marine Management, an Athens company led by Ghassan Ghandour, emerged in October as new owner or manager of the 82,000-dwt Wise Young (renamed Hermes I, built 2011).
The ship was reportedly sold in mid-July by South Korea’s Joong Ang Shipping for about $13.8m.
Other Greek kamsarmax buyers include Titan Maritime, Newport and Neda Maritime, which are known to have each purchased two bulkers in this size category.
The biggest seller was Scorpio, which has offloaded eight kamsarmaxes to Greeks this year. Eight more were sold by Japanese companies, such as Mitsubishi’s MC Shipping, NYK Line and Nisshin Shipping.
