In the teeth of underwhelming capesize markets, Greek buyers have returned to the secondhand arena to acquire at least two such vessels in deals worth more than $70m combined.
The transactions come as prospective buyers are increasingly reluctant to dip their toes in the water amid volatile or dropping freight rates.
“The majority of market players are adopting a wait-and-see mode as they are closely monitoring current market developments,” brokers at Athens-based WeberSeas said in their latest report on 9 June.
Eva Tzima, head of research at Seaborne — another Athens brokerage — sees secondhand values for bulkers dropping in June for the first time this year.
“Buyers currently focus almost exclusively on tonnage built after 2010, steering clear of older ships, particularly those of lower quality/inferior specifications,” she wrote in a report on 12 June.
It does not come as a surprise that the most prominent buying of capesize vessels meeting those criteria is by notoriously counter-cyclical Greeks.
Several brokers in Europe and the US have reported that a Hellenic player is spending $41.5m on the 180,900-dwt Herun Zhoushan (built 2017).
According to Xclusiv Shipbrokers in Athens, the vessel will be delivered to its new owner time charter-free between July and November.
Some London brokers are identifying Lou Kollakis-led Chartworld as the buyer of the Chinese-built ship, which is one of four capesizes in the fleet of Herun China Shipping.
Managers at Chartworld and Herun did not respond to a request for comment.
Some US brokers report that Herun has also sold the sister ship Herun Zhejiang (built 2017). Others, however, doubt that a transaction has been concluded.
Flipping tankers, buying bulkers
A purchase of the Herun Zhoushan by Chartworld would mean the seasoned Greek player is reinvesting some of the cash it recently generated from highly profitable tanker sales into the bulker market.
The company recently sold the 115,100-dwt LR2 Star Prosperity (built 2009) for between $41m and $43m — more than twice the $19.5m to $19.7m that Kollakis paid in the autumn of 2019 to acquire it from Japanese interests.
The Star Prosperity has already been delivered to its new owners. The S&P Global Market database lists it under the name Elegance and in the fleet of United Arab Emirates-based Kurow Shipping.
Chartworld may have repeated the tanker trick with yet another sale. London brokers reported late last month that the 113,000-dwt aframax Everglades (built 2008) was sold to Middle Eastern buyers for more than $39m.
Chartworld had operated the Japanese-built ship for 10 years after taking it over from bankrupt US owner Overseas Shipholding Group.
Kollakis is not the only Greek to pounce on capesizes recently. Several brokers reported that unidentified Hellenes have swooped on the Japanese-built, 178,500-dwt Zampa Blue (built 2011), which is believed to be changing hands for about $30m.
Built by Mitsui Ichihara Engineering & Shipbuilding, the vessel is expected to join its new owner between July and September. It is one of three capesizes currently in the fleet of Japan’s Meiji Shipping.
