Onassis company Olympic Shipping and Management has taken advantage of rising asset values in deals that will shrink its bulker fleet.
Market and broking sources in Athens, London and the US said the company has agreed to sell three supramaxes to members of the Constantakopoulos family.
The 56,700-dwt Olympic Pegasus (built 2011) is said to have fetched $15m, while the 55,700-dwt sisterships Olympic Peace and Olympic Pride (both built 2006) were sold to the same buyers in a separate deal for $25.5m en bloc.
Managers at Olympic and the Constantakopoulos clan were not available to comment.
The deal is characteristic of the bulker scene's current dynamism, which is offering opportunities to both buyers and sellers in the secondhand market.
Companies such as Olympic, which want to reduce their exposure, are finding opportunities to shed assets at attractive values. The Onassis outfit, which is primarily a tanker company, has been circulating bulkers as sale candidates for months, but had been reluctant to part with them so far.
In November last year, it agreed to shed the 182,000-dwt capesize bulkers Olympic Harmony and Olympic Hope (both built 2016) to JP Morgan.
The sale of its three supramaxes leaves the company with three kamsarmaxes and two supramaxes. On the tanker side, by contrast, Olympic is listed with a fleet of about 20 ships.
Buying still makes sense, to some
However, interested buyers find the current conjuncture still attractive enough for moves, despite the rise in asset values.
“It seems that the steady upward trend of time charter rates, especially in handies and supras, intrigues more shipowners to take the next step and move into the secondhand market,” Athens-based Doric Shipbrokers said in a weekly market report.
The Constantakopoulos family certainly seems to share that feeling. Members of the clan, which is best known for control of New York-listed boxship company Costamare, bought a pair of kamsarmaxes from Greek peer Safe Bulkers last month.
The Constantakopoulos family, which is known to occasionally pursue shipping opportunities outside the scope of Costamare, is said to have acquired other bulkers as well, including the 83,500-dwt Spring Aeolian (built 2012).
Greek supramax sellers extend well beyond Olympic. Managers at John Karageorgis-led Times Navigation dismissed broker reports that their company sold the 56,600-dwt Panagia Korona (built 2012). But they did confirm the sale of the 57,000-dwt Archagelos Gabriel (built 2011) for $13.2m.
That is above the price the company paid to buy the ship three years ago.
Greek peer Cosmoship Management pulled off a similar asset play, divesting the 57,000-dwt Olympic (built 2011) and Legacy (built 2012), as TradeWinds reported last month.
Other Greek players found the opportunity to offload supramaxes that represented the oldest bulkers in their fleets.
Samartzis Maritime reportedly offloaded the 52,500-dwt Clipper Endeavour (built 2004) for between $9.5m and $9.8m. Elios Navigation sold the 53,100-dwt Zoe S (built 2002) to Chinese interests for about $8.5m, and TST International handed the 53,600-dwt Sikania (built 2001) to Asian buyers for about $9m.
