Erasmus Shipinvest Group (ESI), an Athens-based dry bulk outfit led by John Su, has moved under the radar to assemble a fleet of eight managed handysizes over the past 16 months.
These ships have come to account for the bulk of Erasmus’s fleet, which previously consisted of larger dry bulk vessels.
“Our motivation behind this move is to establish a presence across all sized segments of dry bulk shipping,” Su told TradeWinds in an e-mail.
The company’s latest move transpired in March, when Erasmus emerged as manager of the 32,300-dwt Cielo di Pisa (built 2008). Brokers reported that vessel sold in December last year by Italy’s d’Amico Dry to unidentified buyers for at least $8m.
It is currently trading as ES Mercury.
Both Su and his company’s website do not disclose any details of its current fleet. IHS Markit lists it with another seven handysizes, most in partnership with Japanese companies.
“Fundamentally, our strategy and business model remain same”, Su said. “We only fix our handysize bulkers for long-period employment with the world’s largest commodities trading customers of the Erasmus group, to serve our clients on a sustainable, long-term basis”.
The 34,600-dwt ES Venus (built 2014) is likely a case in point. In the summer of 2019, brokers reported Taiwan’s Wisdom Marine Lines as selling the ship for $15m - including an unusually long, for handysizes, two-year charter.
Performing such tasks poses a “positive challenge to improve our standards and quality of management and operations”, Su said, given that handysizes carry much more diversified cargo than the iron ore or coal that went on the larger bulkers the company had been managing.
The company, however, intends to remain and expand in larger bulkers “when we see a feasible project in demand from our major commodities’ customers”.
Erasmus is known for its conservative chartering strategy, working with fixed time-charter rates for commodity traders such as Glencore, Vitol, Quadra Commodities and Cargill.
