Bulkers have been changing hands at a growing pace over the past week, with market activity reaching levels unseen since the summer.
“We are seeing a constant influx of ships, both repeat sales candidates as well as newcomers,” Athens-based Doric Shipbrokers said in a report on 14 October, adding that offers “are bombarding our screens”.
With both freight rates and ship prices seemingly finding a bottom after market corrections and some benchmark deals providing orientation, buyers and sellers have found a meeting point.
Soaring inflation also plays a part, spurring investors to re-enter the market.
“Nobody likes sitting on cash and see it eaten away by inflation,” one London-based broker told TradeWinds.
However, whether the deal flow will continue unabated is an entirely different matter.
“Much of the activity you see is situational,” a seasoned Athens broker said. “There’s still much uncertainty and confusion out there as to where things are heading.”
Money for nothing
Several of the deals occurring in the market reflect individual owner strategies. Some, such as Norden, are flogging off assets to cash in on asset plays.
The company said last week that smart bulker sales were part of the reason why it revised upwards its profit forecast for 2022.
Norden did not elaborate on which ships it had sold but it was already reported in late September to have offloaded the 62,600-dwt scrubber-fitted Nord Barents (built 2019) for $33.3m.
The Oslo-listed outfit is now believed to be selling two similarly modern vessels.
Undisclosed buyers are said to be spending between $32.5m and $33.3m on the scrubber-fitted 62,600-dwt Nord Biscay (built 2019), while, at the same time, Greece’s Neda Maritime Agency has agreed to acquire the 81,900-dwt Nord Gemini (built 2017) for about $30.5m.
Norden is understood to have had purchase options at below-market prices for these vessels, to have exercised them and then flipped the ships for a premium to their new owners.
“It’s really money for nothing,” one broker said.
Neda, on the other hand, is buying the Nord Gemini to renew its fleet after it sold a much older kamsarmax — the 82,300-dwt Alexandra (built 2006) — for about $16.5m earlier this month.
Fleet-renewal considerations have also been behind a decision by Meadway Shipping & Trading — another Greek company — to part with the 81,500-dwt kamsarmax Fiorela (built 2011), which Middle Eastern interests bought for $22m.
Meadway Shipping owner Costas Dellaportas is putting some of that liquidity to good use.
Two weeks ago, the company revealed it ordered two more 40,000-dwt logger handysize newbuildings at Namura Shipbuilding, bringing its total orderbook of such ships at the Japanese yard to four.
The pair, to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2024, represents a separate order and its price tag of about $33m apiece reflects the appreciation of such tonnage compared to the $32m that Meadway paid for the first two newbuildings it inked in March.
Meadway’s sale of the Fiorela is not the only kamsarmax deal in the making.
Other deals
According to market sources in Athens and the US, Greece’s Newport SA is said to be in advanced talks to swoop on the 81,700-dwt Bulk Holland (built 2017), which is being offered by OMC Shipping — a unit of Japan’s Mitsui & Co — for about $29.7m.
Greeks have been busy on both sides of the sale-and-purchase fence.
Navios Maritime Partners is said to be selling yet another older panamax, its fourth since September, with a $12m deal for the 74,500-dwt Navios Symmetry (built 2006).
Eurobulk — the private arm of Greece’s Pittas family — is close to double its money with a $20.5m sale under negotiations of the 57,600-dwt Corinthian Emerald (built 2012). The company purchased the ship two years ago for just $10.2m.
When it comes to handysizes, Hellenes seem to be on the buying side.
Evalend Shipping’s Kriton Lendoudis is said to be spending about $19.5m on the Japanese-held, 33,400-dwt Lodestar Pacific (built 2015).
Unidentified Greek buyers are being tied to a $21.5m deal for the 37,800-dwt Himawari K (built 2015), to the 32,800-dwt Ansac Christine Nancy (built 2013) for about $17.5m and to Berge Bulk’s 32,800-dwt Berge Tronador (built 2020) for between $32m and $33m.
