Secondhand ship prices have continued a downward slide trend despite a relatively active sale-and-purchase market.
The Baltic Exchange's S&P assessment for VLCCs saw the biggest declined, dropping $520,000 in a week to land just under $35.6m on Friday for a five-old-vessel.
Bulker prices inched downward across the board, as every asset tracked by the exchange fell.
Here are a few of the sales that have emerged in recent days:
Empire Bulkers sells supramax
Stamatis Molaris-controlled Empire Bulkers is selling a supramax bulker to an undisclosed Turkish buyer for a higher-than-expected price.
European brokers said the Greek shipowner has sold the 55,000-dwt Neraida (built 2005) for $7.8m.
VesselsValue said the bulker was worth just $6.5m, while a rival platform by Maritime Strategies International puts the Oshima Shipbuilding-constructed vessel at $6.8m.
Empire Bulkers declined to comment on the reports. Factors pushing the price up is the fact that the vessel is built in Japan and has recently passed special survey.
The Molaris-controlled company is an active player in the S&P market. This year, the shipowner has bought three handysize bulkers.
In July, Empire acquired the 32,000-dwt bulkers Maratha Paramount (built 2011) for $8m and sistership Maratha Prudence (built 2012) for $8.5m from India’s Chowgule Steamship.
In June, the outfit also sold two slightly older handysize bulkers to ITC Corp of Vietnam.
Empire is listed with 14 bulkers with an average age of 11 years. They range in size from handysize to capesize units.
Molaris also has a tanker company, Empire Navigation, that has a fleet of 15 MR tankers and five suezmaxes.
Noble Group offloads last vessel
Noble Group has reportedly sold its last vessel, the 180,000-dwt bulker Aqua Vision (built 2011).
European brokers said the trader has offloaded the Dalian-built vessel to a Greek buyer for a $15.8m.
The price appears low given that, earlier this year, the Aqua Vision was reported to have been sold for $20m. VesselsValue estimates the ship to be worth $19.9m.
Noble did not respond to requests for comment.
In August, Singapore-based Noble sold the 93,000-dwt bulker Ocean Garnet (built 2010) to Oldendorff Carriers for $11m. This ship is now named Celine Oldendorff.
Noble had recently dry-docked the vessel and installed a ballast water treatment system.
The sales are the latest in a series of disposals as Noble exits shipowning to focus on trading.
Embiricos company sells VLCC amid spree of deals for older tankers
Embiricos family company Aeolos Management has concluded the fourth sale of an ageing VLCC this year in a spree that has raised about $100m in proceeds.
The latest deal for the 319,400-dwt VLCC Skopelos (built 2002) is being concluded in the teeth of a bleak freight market for such ships.
The transaction has been made possible by continued buying interest from little-known Asian buyers, who may be earmarking the vessels for special, captive employment. Such buyers may also be interested in storage tonnage to take advantage of the contango spread between current and forward oil prices widens.
