Greek owner and operator DryDel Shipping is taking advantage of elevated bulker values and insatiable Asian buying appetite to clear out the relatively older vessels in its fleet.
Company principal Costas Delaportas confirmed he has agreed to sell his fourth bulker in as many months.
The scrubber-fitted, ice-class, 81,800-dwt Beluga (built 2015) goes to Chinese interests. Greek brokers had previously reported that it was changing hands for about $30m.
This means Delaportas managed to squeeze a net gain of more than $3m in the brief period that he had the Japanese-built ship.
The Beluga joined the DryDel fleet earlier this year after the Athens-based company agreed to buy it from Norden towards the end of 2023 for between $27m and $28m.
The Beluga continued being an attractive acquisition target even after DryDel took control of it, given its top-quality Japanese pedigree, installed scrubber and ice-class 1C capacity.
“This was a good opportunity,” Delaportas told TradeWinds.
The Greek owner has repeatedly benefited from such good sale opportunities recently, amid elevated ship values.
The Beluga becomes the fourth bulker that DryDel has shaken out since June, with three vessels going to Chinese buyers and one to South Koreans.
Delaportas confirmed the sale of the 61,600-dwt Dolce Vita (built 2012), which Greek brokers reported in August was going to Chinese buyers for $23.5m with forward delivery.
TradeWinds has already reported about DryDel selling another pair of ultramaxes — the 61,600-dwt Luna Rossa (built 2010) for about $21m and 62,600-dwt Velvet (built 2018) for about $35.5m.
The Luna Rossa has since emerged as Honway in the fleet of Hong Kong-based Honway Shipping. The Velvet is trading as Wooyang Ares in the fleet of South Korea’s Wooyang.
Big in Japan
The four ship sales, however, do not mean the DryDel fleet is contracting.
Quite the contrary: the divestments are part of a fleet renewal campaign in which the company is expanding with an extensive handysize and ultramax newbuilding programme in Japan.
DryDel, which owns 13 handysize, ultramax and kamsarmax bulkers on the water with an average age of six years, has already taken delivery this year of three handysize newbuildings from Namura.
Another Namura newbuilding will join the fleet this month and a further seven deliveries are scheduled between 2025 and 2028 from Tsuneishi Shipbuilding, Oshima Shipyard and Shin Kurushima Dockyard.
“We are focusing on our newbuildings now,” Delaportas told TradeWinds.
Its owned fleet apart, DryDel charters in a further 17 bulkers, mostly from top Japanese owners such as Marubeni, Doun Kisen, Orix and Sugahara Kisen.
DryDel has evolved from Meadway Shipping & Trading — the company set up by Delaportas’ late father Dionysios.
Costas Delaportas’ brother George is head of Meadway Bulkers.
