Danish shipowner Clipper Group has added its third secondhand bulker in three months with a deal for a Navibulgar ship.
The company said the 38,000-dwt Rodina (built 2009) has been renamed Clipper Hong Kong, after the company's third main office location.
VesseslsValue reported the sale at $8m, versus its own valuation of $7.7m.
The vessel has been bought with unnamed "close partners", Clipper said.
In November, Clipper said it had acquired the 38,000-dwt Rook (built 2010) from Greece's Access Shipping before renaming it Clipper Copenhagen. The company also picked up the sistership Bulgaria from Navibulgar, renaming it Clipper Houston.
Financial help
Brokers reported a price of $6m for the Rook, but how much the Bulgaria went for has not been reported. Clipper said "financial partners" helped it conclude these deals.
All three of these newly purchased ships were built at Jiangsu Eastern Shipyard in China.
The trio have joined Clipper's new Emerald Pool, dedicated to larger handysize vessels.
This is Clipper's third pool, complementing its Handy pool for smaller handysizes and the Clipper Bulkhandling operation, bought from Torvald Klaveness in 2020 to focus on ultramaxes and supramaxes.
"We are entering into a phase where we approach markets more offensively, benefiting from our cost-effective business platform," Clipper chief executive Amrit Peter Kalsi said.
"We will pursue growth opportunities for both our pools, the chartered fleet and owned vessels."
Clipper Bulk now has about 76 owned, part-owned and long-term chartered vessels.
The parent Clipper Group is family-owned and also controls Seatruck Ferries.
Earlier in 2020, the company said it was taking drastic downsizing measures to cut costs and reshape its operations to fit the prevailing coronavirus-hit market conditions.
