Singapore-based bulk carrier owner Berge Bulk is expanding its fleet of newcastlemaxes, with the purchase of a 15-year-old unit from Japan’s K Line.
The Universal-built 203,000-dwt Cape Rosa (built 2005) has been sold for around $13.5m, TradeWinds understands, which is roughly in line with market expectations.
The ship is due for special survey in June 2022. European shipbrokers say Cape Rosa is on a 10-year timecharter to Japan’s Japan JFE Steel Corp.
Berge Bulk, which is led by CEO James Marshall, does not comment on commercial matters.
Fleet scale
The company has a fleet of 47 large dry bulk carriers, on average nine years old. In addition the company is due to take delivery of two newcastlemax newbuildings from Bohai Shipbuilding later this year.
The company has been through a massive clear-out of elderly capesizes with eight vessels sold for demolition in the past year.
The last unit to be torched was the 170,000-dwt Berge Eiger (built 2000) which was sold for recycling in February for $400 per ldt before the coronavirus hit the market.
The oldest ship in its fleet is the 364,000-dwt Berge Stahl (built 1986), which for 25 years was the biggest bulker in the world. It is still one of the largest ships in the Berge Bulk fleet.
Marshall is the brother-in-law of BW’s chairman Andreas Sohmen-Pao.
