A Greek shipowner has emerged victorious in an online auction for a modern Chinese ultramax bulker.
European brokers reported CMB Financial Leasing’s 61,400-dwt Great Venture (built 2019) sold for $30.03m or $30.04m in China.
According to Clarksons, the winning bid was put forward by clients of Equinox Maritime of Greece. Managers at the Athens-based company were not immediately available to comment.
The $30m valuation ties in with what VesselsValue estimates the ship is worth, down from $34.5m a year ago.
The China Merchants Bank-controlled leasing company has been contacted for comment.
The Chinese-built vessel is operated by Wah Kwong in Hong Kong under a 10-year bareboat charter.
The sale was concluded after fierce bidding by six potential buyers, Cleaves said.
The Norwegian broker added: “These auctions often draw limited interest from foreign buyers due to cumbersome registration requirements.”
These include a refundable cash deposit, in this case, $1m, and strict “as-is” delivery terms.
Prices will usually be discounted as a result, the broker explained.
Cleaves believes those buying bulkers today are taking a bet on better long-term prospects despite weak rates now.
The Oslo shop argues that the choice of modern bulkers for sale is limited, resulting in some interesting deals like the Great Venture.
CMB Financial Leasing has 231 vessels under its ownership. Of these, 81 are bulkers, with 11 other ultramaxes on the books, built between 2014 and 2020.
It has 86 tankers and 45 container ships.
The fleet is worth $12.7bn.
TradeWinds reported last month that South Korean interests are spending slightly above $30m on the 63,600-dwt Vokaria (built 2020), leased by CMB Financial Leasing to Union Maritime of the UK, which had paid just $24.5m to order it at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou) five years ago, in an en-bloc newbuilding deal financed by the Chinese company.
As for Equinox Maritime, the purported buyer of the Great Venture, it has been a circumspect buyer of secondhand ships.
The Lekanidis family-led company traditionally relies on newbuilding tonnage.
It last bought a used vessel more than four years ago, when it spent about $15m on the 58,800-dwt Ocean Colossus (renamed Akour II, built 2010).
Since then, Equinox had been mostly active in offloading its oldest tonnage to clients of Hong Kong-based Xinfeng HK Shipping.
In the middle of last year, just after sending the ship through special survey, Equinox sold the Croatian-built, 52,000-dwt Equinox Voyager (renamed MXD Xiamen, built 2002) for $15.3m.
A few months later, in December, sistership Equinox Dawn (built 2002) went the same way for $11.3m. That vessel is currently trading as MXD Quanzhou.
These sales brought the fleet under full Equinox management to 15 bulkers between handysize and ultramax size.
According to the Equinox website, the company has also been entrusted with the technical management of six kamsarmaxes owned by US-listed Star Bulk.
Equinox was established in 2001 after the merger of Greek companies Dileship Marine Corp and J G Goumas (Shipping) Co.
