Alberta Shipmanagement has emerged with a post-panamax pair sold as part of CLdN Cobelfret’s sales campaign amid rising bulker values.
Two former Cobelfret vessels that were reported sold by brokers in separate deals earlier this year worth $57m in total are now featured on the fleet list on Alberta’s website.
The bigger transaction of the two concerns the 93,500-dwt Lowlands Horizon (built 2018), which has joined the Alberta fleet as Shigaraki.
Cobelfret was said to have divested the Oshima-built vessel to undisclosed Greek buyers in early July for about $36m, to be delivered within the summer in the Far East.
That information came up trumps, as the ship is now trading with Alberta in the China Sea, most likely on the back of pre-arranged employment.
Clarksons reported on 2 August that Jera GM had fixed the Shigaraki for about one year, on an index-linked charter at 20% above the BPI 5TC.
The second post-panamax that Alberta bought from Cobelfret is the Imabari-built, 95,700-dwt CMB Pomerol (built 2012). It is now trading with Alberta under its new name, Aris.
That vessel changed hands in February, when brokers mistakenly identified UK offshore player Samos Energy as its buyer.
Samos Energy may have been linked to the deal as a result of a misunderstanding, as Inglessis was previously associated with a similarly named company called Samos Steamship.
As TradeWinds already reported, Inglessis and his daughters Ismini and Alexia split their family interests from Samos Steamship in late 2019, when they set up Alberta.
The two purchases bring the size of Alberta’s managed fleet on the water to nine bulkers and nine tankers. It is a fan of Japanese-built tonnage, ordering all but one of its ships in Japan.
Alberta is sticking to Japanese ships, having four newbuildings under construction there — two suezmaxes at Nihon Shipyard due for delivery in the spring of 2025; one LR2 ship at Sumitomo due in September 2024; and a handymax bulker at Oshima Shipbuilding due in January 2025.
Alberta is a busy player on the secondhand market that also occasionally sells ships.
In June, it sold the 37,300-dwt bulker Sunshine (renamed Lucky Voyager, built 2009) to United Arab Emirates-based Tenpoint Logistics for about $15m.
Cobelfret in sales mode
The two post-panamaxes Cobelfret sold to Alberta are part of a wider bulker sale campaign, which has raised about $150m for the Cigrang family-controlled firm.
Greeks have been keen buyers of its vessels.
TradeWinds reported in May how US-listed Kostantakopoulos-family firm Costamare confirmed acquiring the 179,900-dwt Lowlands Prosperity (renamed Prosper, built 2012).
Cobelfret has drawn Asian buyers as well.
In June, China’s Dongguan Haichang spent between $25.8m and $26m on the 95,700-dwt Lowlands Rise (renamed HC Wisdom, built 2013).
Cobelfret raised $39m in April with the sale to Japan’s Kotoku Kaiun of the 82,600-dwt kamsarmax Lowlands Sage (renamed Aristo Ocean, built 2021).
In another deal in January, the company sold or refinanced the 36,300-dwt handysize Lowlands Hopper (built 2015).
Brokers said at the time that Chinese players bought that vessel for about $17m.
However, it is currently registered under the ownership of Oaktree Capital Management and trades as the Lowlands Shark as part of Cobelfret’s extensive chartered-in fleet.
The Belgium, Luxembourg and Singapore-based company owns about 15 bulkers, but its managed fleet is much larger as it also charters in 95 bulkers.
Any sales might be part of a wider policy to raise cash from high asset values to add more modern tonnage.
TradeWinds reported on 2 April how a unit of the Cobelfret group secured a €42m ($45m) credit facility from German export finance lender KfW IPEX-Bank to help fund a pair of kamsarmax newbuildings.
