Meriaura Group of Finland has expanded its fleet in deals with Germany's Briese Schiffahrts as the European coastal cargoship market picks up.
The company's VG-Shipping unit has acquired the 3,000-dwt open-hatch general cargoship Rochefort (built 2011). Meriaura has also chartered in the 4,500-dwt Nordersand (built 2004) until at least the summer of 2022.
Briese will continue to manage the Rochefort, which is being renamed Helena VG. The 86-metre ice-classed 1A ship will fly the Cyprus flag.
VesselsValue assesses the cargoship as worth $5.3m.
"In the current small tonnage operating in the Baltic Sea, the 3,000 tonne size is rare, as there have been very few new ships built to this size in the last 20 years," Meriaura said.
Capacity shortage
The Rochefort is one of the newest vessels of this type.
"We have responded to capacity shortage in both the 3,000-dwt and 4,000-dwt categories," Meriaura managing director Beppe Rosin said.
"After the dry cargo market accelerated in the late autumn, we were unable to meet the growing transport demand, but now the matter has been solved."
The Rochefort is being handed over on 1 March.
The owned fleet of six cargo, heavy-lift and ro-ro vessels is assessed as worth $20m by VesselsValue.
In 2019, Meriaura signed a transport deal for vessels powered by biofuel.
The contract saw it carry woodchips and wood pellets for Swedish power company Stockholm Exergi within the Baltic Sea.
Biofuel will be used 100% as the power source, a debut agreement for its 2016-built, biofuel-powered EcoCoaster vessels.
