Genco Shipping & Trading has sold a third veteran bulker as part of a wider fleet renewal programme.
New York-listed Genco has shed the 72,000-dwt Genco Surprise (built 1998), market sources say.
A price of $5.5m is being placed on the ship, which is believed to have been bought by a Chinese shipowner.
Genco has previously identified the debt-free vessel as one of 15 older ships, spanning eight supramaxes, a single handysize and all bulkers built before 2000, to be offloaded to refresh the fleet.
This summer the company has also been an active buyer of tonnage, backed by funds from a $115.7m equity issue and a major refinancing.
It has bought four capesizes and two ultramax bulkers in deals worth almost $240m.
“With a recently refinanced balance sheet and new equity, the company has plenty of excess liquidity for further accretive vessel acquisitions,” said Jo Ringheim of Arctic Securities in a report today.
Genco had a fleet of 64 bulkers with an average age of nine years before its latest transaction.
