Kumiai Navigation has taken advantage of a rising sale-and-purchase market for large bulkers with the sale of a newcastlemax in what one broking house described as the deal of the week.
An undisclosed Chinese buyer is paying $38.5m for the 208,000-dwt Cape Azalea (built 2012), according to brokers in the US and UK.
The reported deal also firmly solidifies China’s position as the top buyer of newcastlemax tonnage so far in 2024.
Kumiai Navigation, the Singapore-based subsidiary of Japan’s Kumiai Senpaku, confirmed to TradeWinds that the Cape Azalea was up for sale, but would not comment specifically on reports that it has been sold.
UK broker Hartland Shipping Services described the transaction as the “sale of the week” and said the price tag is “pretty much in line with benchmarks”.
The Cape Azalea has no scrubber and was built at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering in China, a Japanese-Chinese joint venture known as Nacks.
The deal comes amid strong activity in the bulker S&P market and values that are holding strong.
The Baltic Exchange’s index for capesizes, which is based on a five-year-old, 180,000-dwt vessel with no scrubber, rose to $60.1m, the highest level since June 2010.
Brokers are reporting strong sales volumes. Clarksons reported that 569 dry bulk vessels of 42.4m dwt in aggregate capacity have been sold this year, putting it on track to beat the 2021 record. Sixty-four capesizes have been sold, according to Greece’s Xclusiv Shipbrokers.
That said, VesselsValue, which estimates that the Cape Azalea is worth about $38.1m today, shows that it could have fetched $39.4m in early July. But its value has risen from as low as $27m early last year.
Newcastlemaxes have been hotly sought-after throughout 2024. VesselsValue data indicates that, excluding the Cape Azalea, 40 of the type have been sold this year.
According to the valuation platform, Chinese buyers, including leasing companies, have been the most prolific buyers, purchasing 10 newcastlemaxes so far.
Greeks followed hot on their heels, buying nine, while Singaporean shipowners bought seven and South Korean owners bought six. European buyers, mostly from Denmark and Norway, snapped up eight.
While Chinese lessors have collectively bought five newcastlemaxes, the top three individual buyers are Winning Shipping (six) and Thenamaris and Norden (both four).
Kumiai Navigation, which also has two 2017-built and a 2020-built newcastlemax in its 20-strong fleet of bulkers and gas carriers, traditionally acts as a tonnage provider, building ships against long-term charters to Japanese and non-Japanese owners.
