A wide circle of Greek shipowners investing in modern bulkers includes a name that has been mainly associated with crude and product carriers.
Members of the Peraticos family, founders of tanker owner Pleiades Shipping, have set up a new company, according to data banks.
Managers at Pleiades did not respond to a request for comment on the information but a market source confirmed it.
The new entity, called Delia Bulkers LLC, filed for registration with Greek authorities in March.
The S&P Global data platform lists Delia Bulkers at the same Athens address as Pleiades Shipping Agents — the traditional tanker owner founded by the Peraticos family and now led by Stamatis and Takis Vellis.
Other data banks have already tied the outfit to a debut deal, identifying it as the new owner of the 81,500-dwt Aquavita Sol (built 2020) — a vessel reported sold by Nisshin Shipping for $33.5m in March, the same month Delia Bulkers was registered.
That information, however, turned out to have been inaccurate. The Chinese-built Aquavita Sol has instead turned up in the managed fleet of another Greek company, Sea Tribute Shipmanagement.
Managers at Sea Tribute told TradeWinds that their company will take delivery of another two vessels of similar size later this month.
They are the 75,000-dwt Paraskevi 2 (built 2011) — which US-listed Safe Bulkers announced selling in March for a gross price of $20.3m — as well as of the 81,900-dwt Perly (built 2016).
Pleiades lists a fleet of 11 MR2, panamax and aframax tankers on its website, built between 2005 and 2023.
The company, however, is no stranger to bulkers.
In 2017, affiliate Alma Maritime contracted a pair of 63,600-dwt ultramax newbuildings at Japan’s Shin Kasado Dockyard.
Around the time of delivery, Alma sold them to Abu Dhabi-based ADNOC for $53m in total.
The Peraticos family’s renewed bulker engagement shows that it is ready to jump on opportunities when markets are in flux and become interesting.
Several Greek firms, from big to small have jumped on the same bandwagon.
According to TradeWinds figures, Greek firms have bought about 70 bulkers in confirmed secondhand deals so far this year.
The tally rises to about 85 if transactions reported by brokers that have yet to be confirmed are included
This article was amended after initial publication to correct information about the new owners and managers of the 81,500-dwt Aquavita Sol (built 2020)
