Chinese-owned Cara Shipping has quit the VLOC segment by selling its last two ore carriers to bulker giant Berge Bulk.
Multiple sources said the Singapore-based company has sold the 250,400-dwt Stella Daphne (built 2017) and Stella Isabel (built 2015) for $98m en bloc. The ore carriers were fitted with ballast water treatment systems.
The acquisition of the two VLOCs marked the first sale-and-purchase transaction that Berge Bulk carried out this year, according to online database VesselsValue.
Berge Bulk and Cara do not comment on commercial issues.
Cara used to own four VLOCs including the Stella Daphne and Stella Isabel. In October 2021, it sold the other two ore carriers — the Qingdao Beihai-built 250,400-dwt Stella Bella (built 2016) and Stella Ivy (built 2015) — to Eastern Pacific Shipping for between $58m and $60m each with charter contracts to BHP. The ships were renamed as Mount Broad Peak and Mount Gongga.
TradeWinds understands that Cara — the shipping and trading arm of Chinese steel mill Rizhao — had been told to get out of shipping by its top management and to focus on trading.
“Cara has adopted an asset-light strategy and is selling its vessels slowly,” said a shipping source.
During the first half of this year, Cara sold two capesize bulk carriers — the 180,400-dwt Stella Anita and 176,300-dwt Stella Flora (both built 2012) to Safe Bulkers for about $30m and $31.75m, respectively. The ships have been renamed as Michalis H and Aghia Sofia.
VesselsValue shows Cara has sold the 180,000-dwt Stella Hope (built 2016) to Zodiac Maritime for $42.5m, which included a one-year charter-back deal. But a source familiar with the Chinese owner said the ship is not sold.
“Cara was in talks with some potential buyers over Stella Hope but sales did not take place,” said the source.
On the tanker front, Cara was listed to have sold one of its four LR2 — the 110,000-dwt Chaselka (built 2017) — to an unnamed buyer at an undisclosed price.
IHS Markit shows the Dalian-built aframax product carrier is renamed as the LR2 Aphrodite and its owner is a Hong Kong-based company called Asia Diamond Shipping.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows Cara currently has 17 vessels including the two VLOCs that it just sold to Berge Bulk. It appears that the company has reduced its fleet by almost half in the last four years from around 30 ships.
