FGM Chartering, a Greece-based owner and operator of general cargo ships and handysizes, has piled another acquisition on top of an already impressive string of purchases and is considering taking the next step towards bigger vessels.
Managing director Kefah Fahl confirmed in an email to TradeWinds that his company is behind a deal for the 38,000-dwt Daido Ambition (built 2021).
The I-S Shipyard-built, modern handysize was purchased under a bareboat hiring-and-purchase (BBHP) structure, the details of which Fahl declined to disclose.
Brokers have reported that the ship changed hands in a five-year BBHP worth between $33m and $33.5m.
The ship’s seller is Daido Kaiun, a company believed to belong to a branch of the Kochi family in Japan. According to broker reports, Daido Kaiun separately agreed to offload another of its ships under a similar BBHP structure.
The 58,900-dwt Kouju Lily (built 2011), managed by AM Nomikos, is said to have fetched about $24m in a similar BBHP structure.
The Kouju Lily is believed to have gone to Greek buyers. Fahl dismissed any notion that FGM Chartering has anything to do with that deal.
FGM’s purchase of the Daido Ambition is the latest in a string of agreements that widened its footprint significantly.
Since early 2020, it has bought or assumed management of eight handysizes, in the execution of a strategy it adopted in 2019 to renew its fleet within three to five years.
The company was lucky enough to have implemented a large part of this plan by mid-2021, while the dry bulk market was still firming up, Fahl said.
Are supramaxes coming?
Set up in 2012, FGM Chartering is a fan of Japanese-built tonnage and bought almost all its vessels from Japanese owners.
Those deals included Doun Kisen’s 38,500-dwt Ocean Rainbow (renamed BC Lara, built 2011) and 29,600-dwt Atlantic Emblem (renamed BC Grace, built 2011); Orix Corp’s 25,000-dwt Albatross (renamed Lucky Trader, built 2011); and Kuwata Dockyard’s 32,300-dwt Lowlands Brabo (renamed BC Callisto, built 2010).
Another recent entrant into the FGM fleet, the 28,400-dwt Golden Daisy (renamed Nord Stark, built 2014), is only under the company’s management. IHS Markit shows the vessel under the ownership of Gulf Coast Shipping & Trading, another Piraeus company.
FGM’s fleet numbers 14 owned and operated vessels with a capacity between 13,000 dwt and 40,000 dwt each.
The company intends to renew its fleet further by selling some of its oldest vessels.
It already offloaded one of them last year, the 23,500-dwt handy Lucky Trader (built 1996). That ship emerged later as Neptune J in the fleet of NJ Trust Marine — a little-known Piraeus company established in 2020, which manages five handysizes and cargo ships under the Palau flag.
Similar sales may take place this year, said Fahl, who eyes offloading the 29,500-dwt Eagle Trader (built 1997) and possibly the 14,200-dwt Sea Luck (built 1999) as well. To replace them, FGM intends to acquire younger handysizes or even supramaxes.
