Bocimar, the bulker arm of the Saverys clan’s Compagnie Maritime Belge, is offloading some of its older capesizes as it starts taking delivery of a huge batch of newcastlemax newbuildings.
Several shipbrokers in Greece, London and the US are tying the company to two separate deals worth more than $80m in total, for a quartet of vessels.
Managers at the Antwerp-based company did not respond to a request for comment.
If confirmed, these would be CMB’s first bulker sales on the secondhand market in a year. Viewed in combination with another batch of capesize deals concluded recently, they are evidence of increased interest for such ships amid high — though volatile — earnings on the freight market.
The first Bocimar transaction concerns the 178,100-dwt Mineral Ningbo (built 2009), which brokers report as sold to Agricore Shipping for about $20m.
The same Chinese-built ship was reported sold in May but at a much higher price of between $23.5m and $23.8m.
One of the terms of the new deal for the Mineral Ningbo is said to be its prompt delivery to its new owners.
Agricore Group turned shipowner in 2018 and has expanded through a string of bulker acquisitions on the secondhand market.
TradeWinds reported in July that Agricore has even tapped into the shipbuilding market for the first time, with an order for two kamsarmaxes at Chengxi Shipyard.
In Bocimar’s second sale, it is said to be offloading three capesizes in one swoop through an en-bloc deal with China’s EGPN Bulk Carrier.
The 175,200-dwt sister ships Mineral Brugge (built 2011), Mineral Destelbergen and 175,400-dwt Mineral Temse (both built 2010) are believed to be changing hands at an aggregate price of $62m.
If confirmed, the deal would quadruple at a single stroke EGPN’s capesize fleet to four vessels. The Hong Kong-based company is currently listed with a single such ship, alongside five supramaxes and two kamsarmaxes.
Bocimar, which owns about a dozen capesizes on the water, looks to have found an opportune moment to get rid of some of them, just as it starts taking delivery of the first ships in an orderbook of 24 newcastlemaxes with China’s Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry.
The first two vessels in that series, the 210,200-dwt Mineral Nederland and Mineral Belgie (both built 2023), started trading with Bocimar in July. A further 22 ships are due to follow through to 2026.
All of them will eventually have ammonia-fuelled engines. These engines are in the development phase, but they will be installed on vessels delivering from mid-2025. The ships delivered before that date will be prepared for retrofitting.
CMB controls bulkers through Bocimar, boxships through Delphis, chemical tankers under Bochem and wind ships via Windcat.
