Eagle Bulk Shipping is being linked to the purchase of a scrubber-fitted ultramax bulker for a price that suggests further confirmation of values sagging off their market peaks of May and June.
The New York-listed Connecticut shipowner is paying less than $28m for the 61,200-dwt Ultra Trust (built 2015), according to sources in the dry bulk market.
The buy would mark Eagle’s return to the sale-and-purchase market for the first time since June 2021 and suggests the owner has acted at a time when values are 10% to 15% lower than the early-summer apex.
Eagle Bulk declined to comment on the reports on Tuesday.
The seller is Ultrabulk of Denmark, which is understood to control the vessel through a leasing agreement with Japanese financiers.
Ultrabulk, the dry bulk arm of Chile’s Ultranav, is thought to be exercising a purchase option and reselling the vessel, which was built at Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding.
The sale price is $1m or more cheaper that the $28.8m estimate from VesselsValue for the Ultra Trust, which is also equipped with a ballast water treatment system.
Another reference was provided on Tuesday by Arrow Shipbroking, which noted that the 61,300-dwt Pavo Bright (built 2017) was sold in mid-June for “mid-$33m” range. Although that vessel is younger, it lacks a scrubber, which typically adds between $1m and $2m to values.
Arrow said the high for a seven-year-old scrubber-fitted ultramax came in December 2021, when a price of $31.3m was paid for an unidentified vessel.
A more recent comparison can be found in a deal by New York-listed Diana Shipping, which paid an average $36.67m for nine Sea Trade Holdings ultramaxes built between 2015 and 2018.
While the average age again is younger, the Sea Trade vessels are not equipped with scrubbers. If the average price is adjusted to $35.7m for 2015 vintage, the level is still more than 20% higher than the Eagle purchase.
One other comparison comes in a pair of Golden Ocean ultramaxes sold in July. The 61,000-dwt Golden Cecilie and Golden Cathrine (both built 2015) were reported sold for $31.5m each. Both had ballast systems installed.
The Ultra Trust would be the first Japanese-built bulker purchased by Eagle Bulk since Gary Vogel chief executive in 2015. It would bring the company’s fleet count to 53 ultramaxes and supramaxes.
