Diana Shipping has agreed to sell one of its oldest capesize bulkers to an unidentified buyer.
It has sold the 177,800-dwt Boston (built 2007) for a net price of around $18m.
The ship, which was built at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in China, is the third vessel the New York-listed bulker owner has sold this year, following another capesize and a panamax in February.
The reported net sale price comes at the upper end of estimates from online valuation platforms.
VesselsValue estimates Boston’s market value at $16.89m, while Maritime Strategies International estimates its fair market value at between $15.7m and $18.7m.
Prices for secondhand capesizes have been increasing alongside an uptick in dealmaking, as improving markets help buyers and sellers find common ground, as TradeWinds reported last week.
A slightly younger Chinese-built capesize — the 175,400-dwt Cape Star (built 2010) — reportedly achieved $21.5m when it was sold on 5 October by Fortune Ocean Shipping to unnamed Chinese interests. The Cape Star, however, is fitted with a ballast water treatment system, while the Boston is not.
The sale of the Boston will leave Diana with a fleet of 40 bulk carriers, ranging in size from newcastlemaxes down to ultramaxes, including two newbuildings. The average age of the live fleet is just over 10 years old.
In late September, Diana contracted its first new vessels in almost a decade when it ordered two dual-fuel kamsarmax newbuildings at China’s Tsuneishi Group (Zhoushan) Shipbuilding for delivery in 2027 and 2028.
The two 81,200-dwt bulkers will be able to run on methanol and were ordered through Japanese trading house Marubeni for $46m per ship.
