Greece’s Archangel Pacific has agreed to offload its two youngest bulkers at price levels that show buyers remain undaunted by rising values amid healthy freight rates.
Several brokers in London, Athens and the US reported that the company’s two Japanese-built ultramaxes — the 61,300-dwt Calico Jack and 60,400-dwt Phoenix Rising (both built 2015) — have been sold to Greek peers for $55m in total.
Managers at Archangel Pacific declined to comment on the information. The Athens-based company, however, was already known to have circulated the two ships for sale in mid-July.
Price comparisons with last done deals are difficult to make because the price for the ultramaxes is said to include index-linked time charters expiring early next year.
The speed at which a deal was put together after the ships became sale candidates, however, is indicative of the animal spirits prevailing in the dry bulk sector.
The sale of the Calico Jack, in particular, represents a remarkable asset play for Archangel Pacific.
The ship used to trade as the SBI Cronos in the fleet of Scorpio Bulkers before the US-based company offloaded it in February this year for about $19.6m – a low price by today’s standards.
The Phoenix Rising was one of four legacy ships that the company went into business with in December 2018, when a member of the Pappadakis clan split his interests from traditional family company Kassian Maritime.
The vessel was worth just around $23m at the time, according to VesselsValue.
This goes to show that there is still ample buying appetite for bulkers out there, despite their considerable value appreciation.
To cite just one example, US-listed Costamare remains a potential buyer, even after spending more than half a billion dollars to build a fleet of 37 vessels from scratch over the last few months.
Costamare executives told investors on 28 July that any secondhand price growth was still lagging the increase in freight rates that such ships are fetching in the charter market.
Panamaxes join in the party
The busy buying activity extends to Chinese-built ultramaxes as well. Clients of Greece’s Spring Marine are said to have agreed a $25.3m sale of the 63,600-dwt Komi (built 2015) – also to Greek peers. The deal includes an attached time charter.
Different Spring Marine clients are believed to have sold the 75,400-dwt Japanese-built panamax Canea (built 2007) for about $17.5m.
An even older panamax, the 75,400-dwt MG Sakura (built 2006), reportedly fetched a higher price of $18m. One Piraeus-based observer called this “a huge price” for a 15-year-old vessel.
Other market watchers, however, said such a price should be considered rather normal in today's markets for a Japanese-built ship with a ballast water treatment system that had passed its special survey recently.
Managers at MG Shipping, owner of the MG Sakura, said they could not confirm a sale for the ship.
It would not be surprising if they tried to hold out for as much profit as possible. The MG Sakura has been the only vessel in the MG Shipping fleet since the company was established in 2015. It is believed to have spent about $12.8m to buy it.
