The Angelicoussis Group has cashed in a capesize vessel in a deal that shows nearly 19-year-old ships are not being left behind in a rising sale-and-purchase market for bulkers.
The reported sale of the 174,000-dwt Maran Prosperity (built 2006) comes as the Baltic Exchange’s market barometer of capesize bulker values hits its highest level since July 2010.
Several shipbroking houses in the UK and Greece reported that the ship, which was constructed at China’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, has changed hands for $21.5m.
The bulker has gone to undisclosed Chinese buyers, the brokers said.
The Angelicoussis Group declined to comment when contacted by TradeWinds.
The price tag is within the range of estimates by valuation platforms.
VesselsValue says a ship of the Maran Prosperity’s specifications is worth $19.8m in an open-market transaction and Maritime Strategies International’s MSI Horizon system puts it at $22.8m.
Either way, it marks a significant recovery since June of last year, when MSI data showed its value dropping to $17.6m and VesselsValue’s estimate fell as low as $13.4m.
The price tag is also higher than that of the last scrubber-fitted, 2006-built capesize, when Cido Shipping reportedly sold the 176,000-dwt Great Navigator in late July for $19m, according to VesselsValue. The ship was due for dry-docking.
The Maran Prosperity, which has been in Angelicoussis hands since it was a newbuilding, trades in the fleet of its Maran Dry Management unit.
But it is not alone in gaining value.
The Baltic Exchange’s index for capesize bulkers, which is based on a five-year-old, 180,000-dwt vessel with no scrubber, rose to $60.1m, the highest level for the market indicator since June 2010.
And that comes as brokers report strong sales volumes, with shipbroker Clarksons reporting that 569 bulkers of 42.4m dwt in aggregate capacity have been sold this year so far, putting it on track to beat the 2021 record.
About 64 capesizes have been sold, according to Greece’s Xclusiv Shipbrokers.
Led by chief executive and owner Maria Angelicoussis, the Athens-based company has a fleet of 141 tankers, bulkers and LNG carriers with an additional 23 on order, according to Clarksons.
