Costamare is reported to be buying its first capesize vessel, in yet another episode of Greek container ship owners counter-cyclically investing some of their ample cash in the wobbly bulker market.
Several brokers and ship-management sources in Athens are linking the US-listed company to a $22.2m purchase of the 176,000-dwt Aquaenna (built 2011) from Monaco-based GoodBulk.
Costamare, a traditional boxship owner that does not discuss commercial transactions outside official public announcements, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on bulkers since it started expanding into that segment a couple of years ago.
However, the company so far had restricted its owned bulker fleet of more than 40 ships to smaller vessels — from handysizes to kamsarmaxes.
The purchase of the Aquaenna would be the first time it has invested in a capesize.
A decision by Costamare to expand into capesizes may have been motivated by two factors.
First, the company has become familiar with such ships following the rapid expansion of Costamare Bulkers — a separate operating platform that is currently boasting a chartered-in fleet of about 30 capesizes and newcastlemaxes.
Second, volatile bulker markets have dampened the appetite of buyers and therefore prices of secondhand ships lately.
The $22.2m that Costamare is reportedly spending is about $3m less than what the Stella Ada (renamed Millicent, built 2011) — a comparable Chinese-built capesize — reportedly changed hands for nearly three months ago.
“In many cases, buyers are left to choose from various market candidates and likely snatch them up at lower levels than in the springtime,” Doric Shipbrokers said in its latest weekly report.
TradeWinds has contacted GoodBulk for comment on the sale of the Aquaenna, but the company does not usually confirm vessel transactions reported in the market.
Many ways to get into bulkers
Falling bulker values have whetted the appetites of other Greek bulker buyers as well.
According to brokers, Hellenic interests have agreed to spend $27m on Kambara Kisen’s 81,900-dwt Rikke (built 2016).
A little further down the age scale, brokers have reported that Mitsubishi UFJ’s 83,500-dwt Santa Cruz (built 2011) has been bought by Greek or Middle Eastern interests for somewhere between $18.2m and $18.6m.
The purchase of secondhand ships is not the only form in which counter-cyclical Greek bulker investing is displayed.
Danaos Corp, a US-listed container ship company like Costamare, unveiled the purchase of a 16.7% stake in Eagle Bulk Shipping earlier this month.
Brokers report some Chinese bulker buying as well.
Just one week after the the scrubber-fitted, 81,100-dwt JY Bulk (built 2018) was sold for $28.49m in an online auction sale in China, the one-year younger sister ship JY Pacific has reportedly gone under the hammer at a slightly higher $28.76m.
Goodbulk sales
However, bulker secondhand prices have been holding up enough to convince even committed sellers such as GoodBulk to continue offloading vessels.
The company has divested 17 capesizes over the past 16 months. An additional sale of the Aquaenna — one of its two youngest ships — would leave it with a fleet of five capesizes.
Costamare has been doing some bulker selling itself. Since October last year, the outfit has divested three handysizes that no longer fit its fleet profile.
The latest one to go was the 37,300-dwt Comity (built 2010), which reportedly fetched $12.8m. It is currently listed with Sigma Shipping and already has been renamed Sigma Trader.
Sigma Shipping is a new Greek outfit whose clients bought the company’s first vessel — the 34,700-dwt Sigma Venture (ex-African Venture, built 2012) — earlier this year.
