Oldendorff Carriers seems to be accelerating its already extensive bulker sale campaign with a transaction for a modern kamsarmax pair worth $80m in total.
Brokers say the German giant is offloading the two ships it took delivery of just a few months ago — the 82,200-dwt Kamilla Oldendorff (built 2024) and Klarissa Oldendorff (built 2023).
The geared pair was built at Jiangsu New Hantong Ship Heavy Industry in China.
Oldendorff did not respond to a request for comment on the reports, which come just a few days after suggestions that it was divesting four more of its vessels — one newcastlemax and three ultramaxes — in transactions worth $160m.
Its more recent sales are part of an even wider divestment campaign it has embarked on since early 2023 on the back of rising bulker prices.
Including the six unconfirmed sales this month, Oldendorff is believed to have sold up to 12 bulkers so far this year and eight more in 2023.
This does not mean, however, that it is reducing its exposure to shipping. It seems more to be shedding existing tonnage to make space and raise cash for the newbuildings it has on order.
Clarksons lists the Hamburg-based firm with 11 kamsarmax newbuildings under construction at Jiangsu New Hantong, all due for delivery in 2025 and 2026.
Oldendorff says on its website that it has a current investment programme of about $4bn for environmentally friendly vessels, which is “funded primarily from operational cash flow”.
Shuffling its previous series of kamsarmax newbuildings at Jiangsu New Hantong to replace it with new ones is a road Oldendorff has gone down before.
Other Germans cash in
TradeWinds already reported last year how the company sold six of the dozen kamsarmaxes it had contracted at the Chinese shipyard.
According to its website, Oldendorff owns 110 bulkers and 20 transshipment vessels on the water.
Other German owners seem to be cashing in on rising bulker values as well.
The 206,300-dwt scrubber-fitted Classic Aro (built 2008) is widely reported sold to Chinese owners for between $26.5m and $27m.
US brokers say the price includes an ongoing time charter under which the ship will be earning $20,000 per day until some point in the second half of this year.
Even though the Classic Aro is managed by Orion Reederei, the S&P Global database lists it as owned by Ownership Asset Management Services, a German KG (limited partnership) company linked with Emissionshaus GmbH.
The Classic Aro is the only bulker Emissionshaus is listed with, alongside a fleet of three smaller container ships.
