Turkey’s Ciner Shipping Industry & Trading is in advanced stages to sign a quartet of ultramax newbuildings at New Dayang Shipbuilding.
According to Athens-based market sources, the deal will be for at least four firm ultramaxes to be delivered in the first half of 2024.
The move reflects the confidence dry bulk owners display in what several market watchers interpret as a sustainable shipping “supercycle”, spurred by a global post-Covid-19 recovery.
Soaring freight rates have sparked a frantic scramble for bulkers in the secondhand market, causing ship values there to rise by more than half since the start of the year.
The fact that the price of a five-year-old ultramax currently exceeds $30m — normally the cost of a similar-sized newbuilding — has encouraged Ciner to order the ships, observers told TradeWinds.
Ciner is familiar with New Dayang. The Turkish company ordered and took delivery in 2012 and 2013 of seven ultramaxes from the yard, all of which are still trading in its fleet of about 20 bulkers.
New Dayang was part of the private Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group at the time of that order. However, it became part of Sumec Marine after Sinopacific’s bankruptcy in 2018.
The ships will be built to the International Maritime Organization's Tier III NOx standards and based on a Crown 63-Plus design. There are no options attached to the deal but it is understood that the order might eventually be bumped up to a total seven vessels.
Managers at both Ciner and New Dayang were not immediately available to comment.
Secondhand deal debut
Expanding through newbuildings has been the Turkish company's standard policy since it was established in 2009 by local businessman Turgay Ciner, whose interests span media, energy and mining.
Earlier this month, however, the Istanbul-based outfit made its first move in the sale-and-purchase market for secondhand vessels.
Ship management and broking sources in Turkey and Singapore identified Ciner as buyer of the 180,000-dwt Stella Nora and the 181,000-dwt Stella Naomi (both built 2016) at $44m each.
A deal could possibly include a third ship as well, the 180,000-dwt Stella Hope (built 2016).
The Stella Nora and Stella Naomi are expected to be delivered to their new owners in mid-October. Both vessels were built at China’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS), passed their special survey this summer and have a ballast water treatment system (BWTS) installed.
Clarksons on 3 September estimated the average price for a five-year old capesize at $45m.
Ciner is understood to have secured long-term, index-linked employment for both vessels with the RWE Group, a German energy giant that already employs the other two capesizes in the Ciner fleet, the 180,000-dwt Vittoria and Mehmed Fatih (both built 2015).
The move is characteristic of owners seeking to benefit quickly from a red-hot dry bulk freight market.
Fearing further potential price increases, several buyers are overcome by a feeling of “buy now or regret it later”, analysts at Athens-based Seaborne Shipbrokers said in a report on 30 August.
