Massoel Shipping of Switzerland has sold another handysize, putting it one vessel away from a complete bulker market exit.
The Geneva-based outfit sold the 20,000-dwt Lugano (built 2003) to a Lebanese buyer, according to shipbrokers in the US and Greece.
If the sale of the Sekwang Shipbuilding-constructed vessel is completed, Massoel will be left with one bulker, the sistership Andermatt (built 2002).
The Lugano has changed hands for $2.4m, brokers said. It is due for special survey in December 2022.
Last summer, Massoel had a fleet of 12 bulkers. Before the Lugano sale, it had already offloaded 10 of them in individual transactions, prompting speculation that it is on its way out of bulker owning for now.Massoel has refrained from commenting on its string of transactions.
It bought the Lugano in 2006, when it was DS Regent, from an undisclosed seller for $21.3m.
In March this year, the company sold its only supramax, the 50,400-dwt Luzern (built 2002) for $5.6m to Oryx Shipping of Greece. It has been renamed Diligent.
Massoel also has one heavylift vessel, the 17,800-dwt Thorco Basilisk (built 2013), operated by Denmark’s Thorco Shipping.
Previously, Massoel was involved in the bulker sector through a partnership with B Skaugen Shipping of Norway, which held a 49% stake in the joint venture shipowner Massmariner.
Massoel was formed in 1982 by former Acomarit boss Giorgio Sulser.
