Castor Maritime has broken a two-year buying drought with a purchase to take it into the ultramax market.
The bulker cost $25.5m and was built in 2015, according to a press release posted on the US-listed shipowner’s website.
“We are excited to announce Castor’s entry into the ultramax segment,” chief executive Petros Panagiotidis said.
The company did not reveal any other details about its acquisition other than to say it was bought from an unaffiliated third party.
One ship matching Castor’s rather vague description, and that brokers reported as sold to undisclosed buyers, is Norbulk Shipping’s 63,500-dwt Swansea (built 2015).
The purchase will bring Castor’s fleet to 11 vessels — three kamsarmaxes, five panamaxes, its new ultramax, as well as a pair of container ships.
Panagiotidis is a busy player in the secondhand market.
Under his leadership, Castor spent about $400m between July 2019 and December 2021 to build, almost from scratch, a fleet of 29 bulkers and tankers.
In November 2022, it expanded into container ships, buying a feeder pair from the private side of the Panagiotidis family.
By that time, however, Castor was shrinking again, as it began cashing in on the appreciation of its existing fleet.
In late 2022, it spun off its eight tankers into US-listed affiliate Toro Corp.
Between May 2022 and April 2024, it raised nearly $180m from the sale of 12 bulkers to third parties or private family company Pavimar.
Castor’s latest sale was in May, as TradeWinds reported, with Turkey’s Cunda Shipping emerging as the buyer of the 75,200-dwt Magic Vela (renamed Atlantic Star, built 2011).
The company’s acquisition on Thursday, however, suggests it is back in expansion mode.
“We remain committed to our growth trajectory by seeking further opportunities in the shipping space, including opportunities to modernise our fleet,” Panagiotidis said.
In another high-profile move this month, his family listed a third company in the US — Icon Energy, which has a single panamax bulker.
