Diversified Greek owner Alberta Shipmanagement is increasingly concentrating its acquisition firepower on bigger bulkers in the kamsarmax and capesize range, buying its third such vessel this year.
Greek market sources and London-based brokers have tied the Athens-based company to a $25m deal for Nissen Kaiun’s Japanese-built 119,600-dwt Kitaura (built 2012).
The scrubber-fitted, Sanoyas-built bulker is the first “baby-cape” to join Inglessis family-owned Alberta’s mixed fleet of bulkers and tankers.
The deal follows the acquisitions of two slightly smaller, post-panamax vessels by Alberta earlier this year.
With five post-panamaxes and its first baby-cape, intermediate-size vessels now make up the majority of Alberta’s 10 bulkers on the water.
According to Clarksons, ships of that type are “designed to offer greater economies of scale than panamaxes, while offering increased flexibility than a standard capesize”.
Some baby-capes or “mini-capes” transport grain, while others are employed in more traditional panamax and capesize bulker trades such as iron ore and coal.
All but three of Alberta’s 10 bulkers and 10 tankers on the water were built in Japan.
They include the scrubber-fitted, 115,000-dwt LR2 newbuilding Erotokritos (built 2024), which has recently been delivered from Sumitomo Heavy Industries’ Yokosuka yard.
Alberta also has a pair of suezmaxes being built at Nihon Shipyard that is scheduled for delivery next spring, as well as a single handymax bulker at Oshima Shipbuilding due in January.
Repeat seller
In the Kitaura deal, Alberta’s preference for Japanese-built tonnage complements Nissen Kaiun’s habit of selling bulkers to Greek buyers.
The Kitaura becomes the sixth bulker this year that the giant Japanese owner has sold to Hellenic buyers and the 10th since 2023.
Other Greek buyers of Nissen Kaiun ships have included New York Stock Exchange-listed shipping giants Costamare and Navios Maritime Partners, as well as low-profile private companies such as Kassian Maritime, Sea Trade Marine and Paschalis Diamantidis-led Velos Dry.
The vessels that changed hands in these deals ranged from a 17-year-old capesize to a modern three-year-old kamsarmax.
Nissen Kaiun’s sale tally might increase by one more ship if last month’s reports are confirmed, indicating the sale of the 81,800-dwt Elsa S (built 2015) to Greece’s Ocean Freighters.
