A new Greek bulker company has been quietly yet rapidly expanding its footprint in the handysize segment after setting up shop last year.
Aquarius Bulkcarrier Shipping Co obtained its licence in July, and has already built up a fleet of six vessels.
According to IHS Markit, Aquarius' managed ships were previously with Northsouth Maritime, another Greek-based firm with a different Piraeus address.
Northsouth Maritime was formerly known as Nordstrand Maritime & Trading — a Cuban-linked ship manager that rebranded in 2015, two months after US authorities removed it from a blacklist amid a normalisation of US-Cuban relations.
Managers at Northsouth and Aquarius did not respond to requests for comment on how and why several Northsouth ships have emerged with Aquarius and whether the two companies are affiliated in any way.
Northsouth and Aquarius are both Greek ship management arms of parent companies registered in Liechtenstein.
Northsouth used to be headed by Captain Rafael Guzman Perez, who is no longer with the company. Management of Aquarius, by contrast, is believed to be Greek.
Before transferring vessels to Aquarius, Northsouth had a 10-vessel fleet of 34,900-dwt sisterships, all built between 2011 and 2013 at China's Shanghai Shipyard.
Six of those vessels are now trading with Aquarius under their new names of Guama and Omara (both built 2011), Graciela (built 2012), Acosta, Doce and Manduley (all built 2013).
The ships still with Northsouth are the Gertrudis, Haydee and Josefa (all built in 2013) and Mariana (built 2012).
