Greek players New Vision Shipping and Diligent Holdings have unveiled supramax buys made late last year that boosted their growing fleets.

New Vision took delivery earlier this month of a 10-year-old supramax bulker from EGD Shipholding of Norway.

The 58,000-dwt Caroline Victory (built 2008) was reported sold by EGD to an undisclosed buyer last November for $13.8m.

It has emerged that New Vision bought this Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu-built bulker, renaming it New Victory. EGD and fellow investors had bought the ship for $8.5m in May 2016.

New Vision, a relative newcomer on the Greek shipping scene, has been fairly active on the sale-and-purchase front. About the same time it purchased the Caroline Victory it bought another Tsuneishi-built supramax, the 58,000-dwt Spring Eagle (renamed New Spirit, built 2010), from Nissen Kaiun of Japan for about $15m.

The two purchases have doubled the size of New Vision’s fleet to four supramaxes, with an average age of a little more than 10 years. The Aris Batayiannis-led company registered with Greek authorities in 2014.

When New Vision made its two supramax buys last autumn, the Baltic spot freight rate index for such ships had climbed to a 3.5-year high, with earnings reaching about $13,300 per day.

Supramax daily spot earnings have fallen by about $2,000 since, but they are still a healthy 61% above their respective levels a year ago. Secondhand prices for five-year-old supramaxes are holding up at their highest levels in three years.

These encouraging market conditions likely encouraged Diligent Holdings, another Greek company, to enter the supramax segment at about the same time.

The Athens-based company took delivery a few days ago of the 55,700-dwt Nonna Ulia (renamed Charisma, built 2010). A Greek broker reported the Mitsui Tamano-built vessel sold to unidentified Greek owners back in October 2017. Sources now say the ship sold for $14.6m.

This is Diligent's first supramax buy after a string of handysize acquisitions over the past couple of years. More supramax deals are expected.

It has added five handysize bulkers since early 2016 at a total outlay of about $45m. The addition of the Nonna Ulia brings Diligent’s fleet to eight units — seven handysizes and one supramax built between 2002 and 2010.

Diligent and New Vision have been expanding at a rate that often leads some brokers to misattribute deals to them. For example, New Vision was credited with the $4.75m purchase of the 45,000-dwt bulker Star Capella (built 2001) last November. However, this ship has emerged under the management of Greek peer Arion Shipping instead — a single-ship company based in Piraeus.

New Vision has also been disposing of vessels. It sold the Iwagi-built 53,000-dwt bulker New Era (built 2003) to the Akij Group of Bangladesh for $9.7m last November.