Brothers Dimitris and George Stefanou are piling up more bulkers, with a fell swoop on a panamax trio shed by fellow Greek owner Panos Laskaridis.
Dimitris Stefanou confirmed to TradeWinds that his family’s companies have spent about $52.5m in total on the 75,000-dwt sister ships Atlas, Icarus and Thisseas (all built 2012).
The vessels were built at Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Ship Industry in China, Laskaridis’ favoured yard.
The deal boosts the fleet controlled by George and Dimitris Stefanou to 26 bulkers, equally shared between their companies Sea Gate Navigation and Bright Navigation.
Golden Star Ferries, another company owned by the siblings, controls four ro-ros active in Greek coastal shipping.
The Stefanou brothers have built up their entire fleet from scratch since they went into business in 2000.
Players known to be setting great store by the private, own-funded structure of their businesses, the Stefanous have long been rumoured to be seeking to achieve a critical fleet size mass of about 30 vessels.
The shipowners, who hail from the Aegean island of Andros, have been at the forefront of Greek bulker buying recently.
Their latest panamax deal with Laskaridis mirrors a similar move late last year, in which they bought a pair of 12-year-old panamaxes from the same major Greek owner.
Laskaridis has been divesting these relatively older vessels as part of a fleet renewal programme, in which he ordered a string of six kamsarmax newbuildings at two Chinese yards.
Sea Gate Navigation and Bright Navigation believe they can profitably trade the vessels they have acquired for quite a bit longer, amid robust bulker markets.
“We believe the market will remain good at least throughout 2024,” Dimitris Stefanou told TradeWinds.
