Marubeni and Torvald Klaveness have welcomed a new owner to their joint venture bulker pool.
Japanese shipowner Mizuho Sangyo has handed over its 75,400-dwt panamax Coral Ring (built 2006) to the Baumarine by Maruklav operation.
The vessel joined on 22 January and is currently on its first voyage with the pool in the northern Pacific.
Mizuho Sangyo has historically had a close relationship with Marubeni and is now embarking on a closer relationship with Klaveness and other pool participants, the operation said.
The Japanese company is described as a “reputable” shipowner established in 1947.
Co-operation is key
President Norikazu Ochi said he believes that through close co-operation “we can achieve best earnings and most efficient trades for the vessel”.
Michael Jorgensen, managing director of the pool, added: “It’s great to have another strong owner from Imabari, Japan, joining Baumarine by MaruKlav.”
“We are extremely happy to see we continue our fleet growth by adding more participants and strongly believe that, through close relationship with all of them, the world’s largest panamax pool will continue to be the optimal solution for shipowners all over the world.”
Earlier in January the pool said it had outstripped Baltic Exchange benchmark earnings for most of 2021.
Second-half vessel earnings came in at $29,473 per day on a net basis, or $31,024 per day gross.
Pool earnings for the standard kamsarmaxes in operation were $8.9m net, or $9.4m gross, which is at Baltic Exchange P5TC benchmark index levels, the pool said.
The P5TC index is based on five panamax time-charter routes.
The pool outperformed this benchmark in nine out of 12 months in 2021, Baumarine said.
The joint venture was agreed at the end of January 2020 and now runs more than 30 Panamaxes.
Taiwan’s First Steamship joined a year ago, adding its 82,000-dwt bulker Ever Best (built 2013) to the operation.
Other shipowners to join include AM Nomikos, U-Ming Marine Transport, S’hail Shipping, Shoei Kisen Kaisha and MSPL.
