Low-key Qingdao owner Agricore Shipping is growing its fleet with unreported deals and has poached a leading Hong Kong broker to boost its sale-and-purchase efforts.
Clarksons Asia broker Emma Yang Mu joined Agricore's Hong Kong team during September, according to her LinkedIn page.
Yang declined to comment on business matters but confirmed her move to TradeWinds.
In seven years at Clarksons Asia, she has been a very active broker with a special focus on mainland shipowners and on distressed asset deals. A graduate of Shanghai Maritime University, she completed a master's degree in shipping from Hong Kong Polytechnic in 2014 and joined Clarksons as a full-time S&P broker the same year.
Meanwhile, Agricore has quietly added Bocimar's 174,083-dwt Mineral Beijing (built 2004) and Cido Shipping's 82,400-dwt Fortune Iris (built 2009) to its fleet.
Agricore recently disclosed on its website that a vessel whose identification number from the International Maritime Organization and other details correspond to the Mineral Beijing would join its fleet in September under its new name, ASL Canopus.
A vessel with details matching that of the Fortune Iris joins in December under the name ASL Neptune, the website shows.
With the new purchases Agricore can boast a 10-ship fleet of bulkers from supramax to capesize.
Agricore Shipping, part of the Agricore Group, known in China as Lianghe Group, was started in 2016 and first drew attention in 2017 with a rapid series of purchases. It has its roots in the grain trades but now will own three capesizes and on its website expresses an interest in growing especially in panamaxes and capesizes.
Agricore Shipping was an active buyer in 2019 and 2020. In May, it disposed of its oldest ship, the 75,900-dwt ASL Venus (built 2001), to an unknown Chinese buyer for a reported $8.8m
The Fortune Iris was one of five panamaxes Cido was reported to have sold in January and February, when that company disposed of its entire panamax fleet. It went for a reported $14.85m to a previously unidentified Chinese buyer.
One CMB or another
In the case of the Bocimar capesize, the price and date of the sale are unknown.
The Mineral Beijing is financially owned by a subsidiary of Chinese lessor CMB Financial Leasing. The Chinese financier bought the ship in November 2018 in a single-ship sale-and-leaseback transaction with Bocimar, the dry cargo arm of Antwerp's Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), for a reported $13m.
Nothing is known about purchase options in the leaseback deal. Thus it is unclear whether the beneficiary of the sale is the Belgian company abbreviated CMB or the Chinese company abbreviated CMB.
The IHS Sea-web database records ASL Canopus Shipping as the name of a so far shipless Agricore entity established this year.
Bocimar lists 32 capesizes on its website, not including some it has out on long-term charter. The 14 capesizes it owns directly plus two more it controls on bareboat finance terms have an average age of eight years, with five built as early as 2004 or 2005.
This story has been amended since publication to reflect Agricore's statement that Emma Yang Mu is a member, rather than head of, the group's sale-and-purchase team.
