Capital Maritime & Trading has made a quick $2m profit by flipping a capesize it acquired less than three months ago, according to market sources.

Several brokers in Greece, London and the US report the Evan­gelos Marinakis-led owner as selling the 177,500-dwt Aristofanis I (built 2005) to unidentified South Korean buyers for between $16.5m and $16.7m.

The Mitsui-built vessel used to trade in the fleet of Japan’s Sanko Steamship as Euro Fortune.

Brokers first reported it as sold last November for about $16m in a deal that ultimately failed to ­materialise.

Sanko then apparently lowered its price ideas, agreeing to sell the vessel at the end of June for ­between $14.5m and $14.7m.

The buyer was not identified at the time. The vessel emerged ­under the control of Capital Maritime in early September as the Aristofanis I.

Prices barely budge

Marinakis, however, did not hold on to it for long, agreeing to sell it at a mark-up just after taking ­delivery.

This is not the only capesize deal to emerge this week. JP Morgan Global Maritime is said to have paid $42.5m each for SwissMarine’s 181,000-dwt capesize duo Corsier and Celigny (both built 2016).

Such transactions, however, have been the exception rather than the rule.

The volume of capesize deals on the sale-and-purchase market has remained muted over the past few weeks, despite a rally that saw freight rates on some trade routes climb to their highest level in nine years.

Average prices for secondhand capesizes have barely budged since June, according to Clarksons. ­Potential buyers are still concerned that the rally might be short-lived as long-term factors, such as worries about a looming recession in key Western states, outweigh positive short-term ­developments, ­including the withdrawal of ships to install scrubbers.