Improving prospects in the bulker market have been drawing Greek players to increase their exposure to capesizes, kamsarmaxes and panamaxes.
Players who a few months ago were acquiring vessels just to replace outgoing tonnage, as part of their fleet renewal strategies, are now more confident to expand.
One example is W Marine, which is buying an 11-year-old kamsarmax.
According to brokers, the company is paying $19.8m for the 81,700-dwt Blumenau (built 2012) — a vessel controlled so far by Germany’s AO Schifffahrt.
“In this dynamic market trajectory, we’re open to increasing our exposure with good-value vessels in our core sector,” W Marine chief executive Nikos Triantafyllakis said.
Yiannis Sarantitis-founded W Marine is a panamax and post-panamax specialist, which bets on economic growth around the rim of the Indian Ocean. With China’s economy rebounding after the pandemic, that bet seems to be paying off.
A Greek company that was expanding its bulker presence even before that revival was apparent is Newport SA.
The George Chatzis-led outfit, which has acquired four handysizes and one kamsaramax since July 2022, is being linked by US brokers to yet another deal, reportedly spending $25.4m on the Japanese-held 77,100-dwt panamax TR Infinity (built 2015).
Greeks are also widely believed to be the buyers of a pair of capesizes reported sold by Golden Ocean last week.
As TradeWinds reported, the 169,000-dwt Golden Shui and Golden Feng (both built 2009) — two of the oldest vessels in the company’s fleet — are said to have changed hands for $46m in total.
Golden Ocean chief executive Ulrik Andersen declined to comment on the deal. However, his company said in its latest earnings release that it is “selling older, inefficient tonnage and recycling the cash proceeds into modern tonnage”.
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Apparently, there is plenty of tonnage for interested buyers to pick from.
“Given the strong market, owners are inundating the secondhand arena with plenty of sales candidates,” Doric Shipbrokers said.
United Maritime Corp, a spin-off of US-listed Seanergy Maritime, is adding yet another vessel to its recent string of acquisitions.
According to market sources, the outfit is emerging as the buyer of the 78,000-dwt kamsarmax Ikan Kerapu (built 2015) — a Japanese-controlled vessel reported sold for $25.5m or $26m.
Once delivered this year, the ship will boost the United Maritime fleet to eight vessels: three capesizes, three kamsarmaxes, a panamax and an LR tanker.
However, when it comes to smaller or older bulkers, Greek owners are predominantly on the selling side.
US-listed Castor Maritime, a serial bulker buyer that turned seller last week, appears to be parting with yet another vessel — the 76,600-dwt Magic Moon (built 2005), which US brokers said is going to South Korean interests for about $14m.
In other Greek sales, the Technomar-managed and Chinese-built 53,500-dwt Castle (built 2009) is said to be fetching about $11.6m.
By contrast, Almi Marine’s South Korean-built, 57,300-dwt Asali (built 2010) is said to be achieving a considerably higher sum of $17m.
Doric predicted that bulker secondhand prices are not going to fall soon.
“Freight rates have come off a bit since the last climb, but secondhand prices are not presently settling, nor will they likely in the immediate future,” it said in its latest weekly report.
