South Korea’s Polaris Shipping is said to have exited the supramax bulker sector by selling its only two such ships to Seacon Shipping.
Polaris has offloaded the 56,500-dwt Solar Jade and Solar King (both built 2013) for $12m each, with Chinese bulker owner Seacon said to be the buyer, according to sources.
The price is in line with the estimates for vessels with these characteristics by valuation services Maritime Strategies International and VesselsValue, which range from $11.7m to $13.5m.
A source familiar with Polaris confirmed that the South Korean shipping company has sold the Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding-constructed bulkers.
“Polaris has sold away the duo as the charter contracts for them have expired,” the source said. “These two ships were previously fixed to [South] Korean steel mill Dongkuk.
“Another reason why Polaris does not want to continue in owning the supramaxes is that its focus is on capesize vessels and very large ore carriers.
“Seacon is one of the more active Chinese companies in the secondhand market. It is not only buying resale vessels, it is also selling some of its bulk carriers.”
According to VesselsValue, Seacon purchased eight secondhand bulkers last year and four the year before. On the sales front, it sold four vessels last year.
With the sale of the Solar Jade and Solar King, Polaris is left with two aframax tankers, seven capesize bulkers and 24 VLOCs on the water.
The company has two newcastlemax bulker newbuildings on order at China’s New Times Shipbuilding and 14 VLOCs under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The sale of the supramax pair comes as Polaris is working towards a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
As TradeWinds has reported, the firm has picked Pareto Securities and DNB as global coordinators to carry out the initial public offering.
It has set its sights on the listing to take place during the second half of this year and is aiming to raise $250m to $300m.
Polaris will be using part of the fundraise to finance its newbuildings, some of which will replace several of its converted VLOCs.
This story has been amended since publication to accurately reflect the amount Polaris is lookign to raise in its planned IPO.
