GMZ Ship Management has found a ship to replace a handysize bulker sent to the bottom of the Red Sea by Houthi missiles.
The S&P Global database shows the Lebanese owner’s Greek unit, GMZ Ship Management Co (Hellas), as new manager of a small, 20-year-old bulker.
The 31,800-dwt Ahu C (built 2004), previously with Turkey’s Manta Shipping, joined the GMZ fleet earlier this month and is trading as Polestar under the fledgling ship registry of San Marino.
VesselsValue suggests that the Japanese-built ship actually changed hands in June at an undisclosed price.
GMZ bought the Ahu C when there was still uncertainty about the environmental and insurance fallout from the sinking of the ship it replaces.
The 32,000-dwt Rubymar (built 1997) sank on 2 March after a couple of weeks drifting off Yemen after being hit by two Houthi missiles.
It had 22,000 tonnes of fertiliser, 200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 80 tonnes of marine diesel on board.
According to sources, the owner had war insurance for its cargo interests but not for a pollution payout under P&I policies.
Manta Denizcilik sold the Ahu C to GMZ as part of a fleet renewal process in which the Istanbul-based owner has dynamically expanded its handysize footprint.
It has bought up to five such ships over the past 18 months, all built in Japan.
Three of these deals have already been confirmed. The Turkish company emerged between April 2023 and June 2024 as the new manager of the 38,300-dwt Octbreeze Island (renamed Fuat Sezgin, built 2011); the 38,200-dwt handysize Ijssel Confidence (renamed Manta Fatma, built 2012); and 34,400-dwt Naruto Strait (renamed Manta Nigar, built 2016).
Over the past three weeks several brokers linked the company to another couple of purchases, both from Taiwanese owners: a $17.4m deal for Oceanlance Maritime’s 37,100-dwt Coreleader OL (built 2012); and the $23m acquisition of Shih Wei Navigation’s 37,000-dwt Bunun Glory (built 2015).
Manta managers did not respond to a request for comment on the two latter transactions.
If they eventually materialise, Manta will have spent more than $90m in total since April 2023 to expand its bulker fleet to 17 vessels — predominantly handysizes.
