What a difference six years can make! Few companies dared to buy bulkers in the spring of 2016, when the market seemed on the verge of collapse.
Among them were clients of Greece’s Technomar, which forked out about $38m at the time to acquire seven supramaxes controlled by distressed investors.
With the market swinging back this year, they are being rewarded handsomely.
Ship management sources in Athens said the 53,500-dwt Evans and Crestone (both built 2009) are changing hands at about $16.2m each.
That is about four times what was spent in March 2016 to acquire them from German lenders.
Technomar has been listed as their manager since. Some brokers said the George Youroukos-led company is managing them on behalf of Sophocles Zoullas’ Zenith Shipping Group.
Piecemeal seller
The Chandris group is believed to have made a similarly profitable move with a slightly younger supramax.
Several brokers have been reporting in May that the Greek owner’s bulker arm, Century Bulk Carriers, clinched a $19.2m deal with Chinese or Norwegian interests to divest the 57,200-dwt Serene Juniper (built 2011).
Some brokers said the deal comes with a one-year time charter attached.
The Serene Juniper was one of four Chinese-built sisterships that Chandris took over during the 2016 dry bulk slump, possibly as part of a debt workout of their previous owners.
Exact details on how Chandris came into their possession are not available, but VesselsValue estimates the ships were worth about $9m each at the time.
Chandris seems to have considered selling the ships before. Two years ago, the company was believed to be in talks with potential Chinese buyers to offload the quartet in an en-bloc sale. However, no such deal materialised.
Instead, Chandris has been selling the ships piecemeal. The 57,600-dwt Serene Lydia (renamed Fortune Star, built 2010) was sold to Chinese or Turkish interests in December 2020 for about $8.5m.
The 57,300-dwt Serene Susannah (renamed Serena, built 2010) changed hands last June, going to Costamare for close to $15m.
Supramax asset plays are not confined to Chinese-built tonnage.
TradeWinds reported earlier on Friday how SwiftBulk sold the Japanese-built 55,600-dwt Stilianos K (built 2010) in March for about $21.5m.
The Greek-controlled bulker and tanker owner paid $15.5m to acquire the vessel in 2018.
The ship is now trading as Bright Hero, and an entry in IHS Markit suggests that its unidentified buyers have won financial backing from US investment giant Oaktree Capital Management for the deal.
Other Greek owners enjoyed the strong market to shake out supramaxes they have been trading for almost two decades.
Athens-based Blue Planet is believed to have sold the 53,800-dwt Nicolaos A (built 2003) for between $14m and $14.4m. Depending on which broker reports the deal, the ship has gone to Turkish or German interests.
Blue Planet has been trading the Nicolaos A since taking delivery of it as a newbuilding from New Century Shipbuilding in China. It is one of the two oldest ships in its fleet.
Ian Lewis contributed to this article
