Precious Shipping has emerged as the buyer of a Nisshin Shipping handysize circulated for sale earlier this year.
The Thai-listed company confirmed in a regulatory filing that it had bought the 39,000-dwt Western Panama (built 2015) for $18.6m.
Precious said the bulker is due to be delivered by the end of August and will be registered under the Singapore flag.
This latest acquisition will be funded from internal cash reserves and/or debt financing from credit facilities available to the company.
In March, brokers had originally linked the sale of the Chinese-built vessel to Oslo shipowner Vega Bulk.
Precious said that when the Western Panama is delivered, its fleet will consist of 42 vessels with an aggregate capacity of about 1.9m dwt.
This is the second ship the company has acquired from the secondhand market this year. In March, it bought Interlink Maritime’s 39,989-dwt Interlink Amenity (built 2018) for $25.25m.
In late May, the Khalid Hashim-led owner returned to the newbuilding market after a decade-long absence with orders for new ultramax tonnage.
It ordered four 63,500-dwt bulkers from China’s Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering for $33.36m each.
Precious, which will take delivery of the newbuildings between March 2026 and January 2027, described the price as “very competitive” in current market conditions, given the specifications and the delivery dates.
The shipowner has also been disposing of older vessels as part of a rejuvenation effort.
In late February, it sold the Thai-flagged 28,442-dwt Rattana Naree (built 2002) for $6.5m, a value it described as the “market price”.
Two months later, it offloaded the Indian-built 53,857-dwt Wikanda Naree (built 2013) to an undisclosed buyer for $13.66m.
