UK Admiralty shipbroker CW Kellock has successfully completed its first live online ship auction — and TradeWinds was there to watch.
The Zoom call had been arranged to sell the 24,306-dwt handysize bulker Evolution (built 1995) following a US court order arising from a cargo dispute between its owner, Smooth Navigation of Greece, and plaintiff Carl Schroter of Germany.
Kellock director Paul Willcox appeared in front of a green-screened backdrop showing a notice from one of his company's auctions from May 1920.
The video call revealed at least four bidders, but only two ended up competing with offers.
Bidders raised their hand or a piece of paper with their bidder number if they wanted to up the ante.
Faidon Panagiotopoulos, representing Maximus Shipping of the UK, faced off against Ceyhun Cebioglu, for Marshall Islands-registered Wickwar Shipping.
Over in the US, the US Marshals Service and assorted lawyers were social distancing outside the federal law court in Charleston.
After the court order was read out, bidding started at the minimum amount of $1.25m and rose in $10,000 increments to $1.3m.
At this point, Cebioglu asked for two minutes to consult with his clients.
Pressure mounts
He muted his microphone and talked on a phone, before his video feed was turned off.
The bidder then came back at $1.31m.
Maximus eventually bowed out after another two-minute consultation, with Wickwar finishing in pole position with a bid of $1.34m.
The US Marshal then got to utter the classic line: "Going once, going twice, going for a third and final time..." And it was all over.
Willcox thanked all participants and particularly Maximus for being "aggressive" in its bidding. Kellock will receive a 2% commission.
The drama was palpable, despite the relatively small amount of money involved.
TradeWinds finds eBay stressful enough, so playing with hundreds of thousands of dollars must have focused the mind.
The court had published a $2.75m estimated fair value for the vessel, while VesselsValue assessed the ship at $1.72m, so it has to be viewed as something of a bargain.
The bidding took around 10 to 15 minutes.
Auction interest building
TradeWinds understands there has been an upturn in inquiries for arrests with auctions in mind. Another similar sale could be in the offing in the US in June.
Willcox told TradeWinds: "It is the first we’ve done that way, but the idea has attracted attention."
"It was a good and easy process," he added.
The Liberian-flagged handysize is moored in Charleston, South Carolina, having arrived there from Sao Sebastiao in Brazil on 30 January.
The vessel is listed as managed by Beta Maritime of Piraeus, which could not be contacted.
Clarksons lists the bulker as the only ship in Beta's fleet.
Judge ordered sale
An order by US District Judge Richard Mark Gergel, of the federal court in Charleston, shows the auction was the result of a case relating to the shipment of over 15,000 tonnes of iron from the port of Bandar Abbas, Iran, to Surabaya in Indonesia.
Schroter filed a complaint on 30 January alleging that the iron was damaged by saltwater contact during the voyage.
Assigned the maritime claims of Interfer-Steel and Commodities FZE, Schroter brought three causes of action against Smooth Navigation for negligence, breach of bailment, and a request for attachment. It later added a breach of contract claim.
Smooth Navigation offered a first preferred mortgage as security, but the court ruled this "unsuitable".
The ship was reported sold to clients of Egon Oldendorff in 2002 for $8m and then to undisclosed interests in 2014 for $5.3m.
It has a clean port state control record going back to a 2016 detention in Germany.
