Qatar's S'Hail Shipping and Maritime Services has bought another secondhand bulker as it seeks to take advantage of a recovery in rates.
The company said the deal for the unnamed Japanese-built 86,000-dwt kamsarmax demonstrates its robust finances during a testing time for shipping.
The vessel is ship number eight in the fleet - and the company's biggest to date.
Delivery will be in December, probably in Kobe, Japan.
S'Hail chairman Mohammad Khalifa Al Sada told The Peninsula daily: "S’hail Shipping believes that the freights are already on its path to recovery along with the growing confidence of countries to control and cure the pandemic."
"We therefore found this as an opportune time to add our eighth ship."
Capacity rising
The purchase will boost its cargo capacity to 569,458 dwt. The biggest vessel it owned previously was 77,000 dwt.
Last year, S'Hail said it was expecting to buy two more ships by early 2020, but Covid-19 intervened.
The owner was targeting modern vessels of between 70,000 and 80,000 dwt.
S'Hail has also been planning to diversify into the offshore vessel business to work for Qatari companies, particularly Qatar Petroleum.
The shipowner was teaming up with a Singapore operator to bid for tenders.
In May 2019, the company spent $20.6m on two bulkers to import gabbro and other cargoes. They were fully funded by Qatar Development Bank.
S'Hail was set up in 2016 with four ships.
"Soon after we started operations, we met with the economic embargo imposed by our neighbouring countries and our vessels faced difficulties in navigating in the Arabian Gulf, and then we decided to expand our operations to worldwide, and we are doing good," Al Sada said last year.
