Denmark's Navigare Capital is looking to pare back its bulker fleet as soaring values fuel an active sale-and-purchase market.
Market sources said the shipowner has put three of its five bulk carriers up for sale. They are the 63,000-dwt Navigare Bellus, Navigare Beatus (both built 2017) and the Navigare Bonitas (built 2014). All three ships were built in China.
Navigare chief executive Henrik Ramskov did not respond to requests for comment on reports of the sale effort.
The Navigare Bonitas was the first bulker in the Navigare fleet. The company purchased the ship under the former name of Ultramar from Primerose Shipping of Greece, reportedly for $18.6m.
Today this bulker is worth an estimated $20m.
Navigare is a diversified company with nine boxships, nine tankers and an LNG carrier, in addition to its ultramaxes.
The sale effort comes amid an active S&P bulker market that has seen values soar.
Shipbroker Clarksons estimates that as of last Friday, a five-year-old, 61,000-dwt bulker was worth $26.5m, an increase of $2.5m since the end of May and a leap of $8.75m since the end of 2020.
Among recent deals, brokers said Oslo-listed Belships has bought the 61,000-dwt Star Pathfinder (built 2015), which is listed in the fleet of Japan's Misuga Kaiun. Sources said the bulker has gone for $22.9m.
TradeWinds reported in mid-June that the company said it had agreed to buy an ultramax bulker that meets the description of the Star Pathfinder for ¥2.52bn ($22.7m), although it did not identify the vessel at the time.
Valuation platform VesselsValue estimates the bulker is worth $26.6m.
Belships chief executive Lars Christian Skarsgaard did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
US-listed Eagle Bulk Shipping has been linked to the purchase of the 63,000-dwt Vialli (built 2015), US brokers said. The vessel, which is listed in the fleet of Singapore's Stamford Shipping, has reportedly changed hands for $23m.
Neither company responded to a request for comment on reports of the deal.
Eric Martin contributed to this story
