Two more bulkers linked to Orix Corp have been reported sold, meaning the sprawling Japanese investment firm has now divested eight vessels.
According to European brokers, the 33,700-dwt Eos Victory and Eos Esperance (both built 2012) have fetched close to $35m in an en-bloc deal with unidentified Chinese interests.
Both vessels have been trading under Orix ownership since Shin Kurushima Dockyard delivered them as newbuildings.
An Orix spokesman declined to comment, citing company policy not to discuss individual deals.
The pattern of the deal, however, is similar to a number of transactions TradeWinds reported earlier this month, in which Orix or partners are believed to have taken advantage of firm prices to sell up to six ships they had been trading for several years.
In one of these deals, Hong Kong-based Taylor Maritime, a serial buyer of Japanese-built handysizes, was linked to the $16.75m purchase of the 33,200-dwt Maritime Faith (built 2011).
In another, Orix’s 58,600-dwt supramax sisterships Million Bell and Glad Mark (both built 2012) are said to have changed hands for $44m en bloc.
Orix said in July, when it announced a newbuilding order for two newly designed ultramaxes, that it owned 25 vessels — mostly bulkers.
IHS Markit and VesselsValue, however, list the Japanese conglomerate with a fleet of about 40 ships, nearly 30 of which are bulkers.
This confusion possibly derives from the multiple owning, leasing and financing roles that Orix has been playing in the shipping market for nearly 50 years.
