Precious Shipping remains active in the secondhand market with the disposal of its second bulker in nearly as many months.
The Khalid Hashim-led shipowner has confirmed the sale of the Indian-built 53,857-dwt Wikanda Naree (built 2013) to an undisclosed buyer for $13.66m.
VesselsValue currently values the ship at around $17.4m, but Precious described the figure achieved for the vessel as “the market price”.
TradeWinds has previously reported that Precious bought the bulker as one of a trio of 53,000-dwt units acquired from Goodearth Maritime of India that were built at the domestic Hindustan Shipyard (HSL).
Precious said the disposal fitted its strategy to rejuvenate its fleet by selling its older vessels and acquiring younger ships.
In February 2024, Precious offloaded the Thai-flagged 28,500-dwt Rattana Naree (built 2002) for $6.5m to an undisclosed buyer. Databases show that the vessel has been renamed Astoria.
A few weeks later Precious added to its fleet with the acquisition of Interlink Maritime’s 40,000-dwt Interlink Amenity (built 2018) for $25.25m.
The Thai shipowner expects to take delivery of the Chinese-built ship by the end of April and intends to place the ship under the Singapore flag.
Following these latest transactions, the Precious fleet stands at 37 vessels with an aggregate capacity of approximately 1.6m-dwt.
Precious has also been active in raising fresh finance over the past few months including a recent $25.5m two-year loan facility from the Export-Import Bank of Thailand.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the shipowner raised about $160.5m in fresh loans to fund possible newbuildings, as well as to refinance an existing loan and refinance two handysize bulkers.
Among the new loans was a $105m sustainability-linked loan from the International Finance Corp, Exim Bank of Thailand and Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank to fund the acquisition of up to six bulkers.
