A new high has been set in the bulker sale-and-purchase market with the rare sale of a modern kamsarmax.
European brokers said Singapore’s Safargo Shipping has offloaded the 81,900-dwt Valiant Spring (built 2015) for $28.2m or $28.3m, for forward delivery in September.
Cleaves S&P broker Einar Straume said: “A long-awaited benchmark for relatively modern kamsarmaxes was found in the dry bulk S&P this week.”
He said it had been some time since a comparable sale, but in December a 2016-built vessel fitted with a scrubber went for $25.5m.
“So, a significant improvement,” Straume said.
He believes there is more “good news” to come in this segment, with a number of deals bubbling under.
The Signal Ocean vessel valuation platform estimates the ship is worth $27.9m, down from a peak of $34.9m in August 2022. VesselsValue, by contrast, puts its current value at a much lower $26.9m.
The ship appears to have been bought out of leaseback financing from China’s Bank of Communications Financial Leasing by Safargo for $31.5m last June.
Seller Safargo could not be contacted. Greece’s Seastar Chartering, however, confirmed it was the buyer without discussing the price.
This is in line with intense interest displayed by Hellenic players in that ship class.
“Greeks have scooped up the majority of kamsarmaxes sold since December 2022,” brokers at Athens-based WeberSeas said in their latest weekly report on 21 April.
Different paths
For low-profile Seastar Chartering, however, the deal marks a departure. None of the nine bulkers it currently has under management are as big or as young as the Valiant Spring.
Seastar Chartering is listed with nine bulkers, from handysize to panamax, built between 2006 and 2014.
Its latest known foray into the secondhand market was nearly two years ago, when it emerged as the new manager of the IHI-built, 55,700-dwt supramax Dory (renamed Carina, built 2010).
That ship had been reported sold in August 2021 by Greek peer AM Nomikos to undisclosed buyers for $17.5m.
Little is known about Safargo.
TradeWinds reported in 2018 that this is a Singapore-incorporated joint venture between privately owned soybean crusher company Shandong Bohi Grains & Oils and Shanghai-based grain freight broker Vertical Horizon.
The S&P Global International Ships Register shows the Valiant Spring as the only vessel actually owned by Safargo.
The company, however, is listed as manager of a kamsarmax sister ship, the 81,900-dwt Valiant Summer (built 2016), as well as of a pair of larger post-panamaxes — the 100,000-dwt Valiant Spirit and Valiant Splendor (both built 2020).
