With bulker prices receding from multi-year highs, more Greek buyers are coming forward to swoop on coveted kamsarmax tonnage.
Hellenic interests have been linked to several such acquisitions, mostly in deals with Japanese owners, who are known to be the sellers adjusting best to new pricing trends.
In one of the latest deals, Athens-based SwissMarine Inc has spent just over $23m on a 10-year-old unit built at Tadotsu Shipbuilding and sold by Japan’s Miyazaki Sangyo.
Fewer than 20 days passed between the Greek company agreeing to buy the 81,800-dwt Energy Sunrise (built 2014) and the vessel joining its fleet under its new name, Aeolian Sunrise, market sources tell TradeWinds.
SwissMarine, which is not linked to the Singapore-based Peter Weernink-led outfit of the same name, does not comment on its commercial transactions.
However, the purchase is in line with its rare moves in the secondhand market.
The last time the company bought a bulker was almost exactly three years ago, when it paid a little over $24m to acquire the 82,200-dwt Key Discovery (renamed Aeolian Victory, built 2010).
That was about the same age as the Energy Sunrise is now, and it was built at the same Japanese yard.
SwissMarine’s acquisition of the Energy Sunrise is also in line with transactions by other Greek bulker players, who rarely miss a chance to replace Chinese-built tonnage with vessels built in Japan, whenever market conditions and pricing trends are supportive.
In the middle of 2023, SwissMarine sold the Jinling Shipyard-built 63,700-dwt Sun (renamed Al Wathba, built 2013) to Safeen Feeders of the United Arab Emirates.
By replacing the Sun with the Energy Sunrise, the Dimitris Theodorakis-led firm has brought the size of its fleet back to six bulkers. Affiliate SwissChemGas separately owns one very large LPG carrier.
More kamsarmax deals in the pipeline
Other Greek players are reportedly completing similar deals, but their identities have yet to be revealed.
In one example, Hellenic buyers are being linked to the $34m acquisition of the Japanese-owned and Bocimar-operated 81,800-dwt CMB Permeke (built 2019).
In another, brokers are suggesting a price of between $17.5m and $17.8m for the 82,200-dwt AM Contrecoeur (built 2011) — an older vessel listed under the control of Mitsubishi Ore Transport and Indian steel giant ArcelorMittal and now reportedly passing under Greek ownership.
TradeWinds reported earlier this week that an unidentified Hellenic player has spent $29.3m on Hongxin Ship Management’s 81,700-dwt Yangze 12 (built 2019).
If these deals are confirmed, they would add to the long line of Hellenic kamsarmax buying reported by TradeWinds over the past few weeks involving several private and public companies, such as Newport SA, Sea Pioneer, Pioneer Marine and Castor Maritime.
“There are buyers out there and Greeks in particular are quite active,” Yannis Roussos, head of sale and purchase at Athens-based Oino Shipbrokers, told TradeWinds.
“As sellers gradually realise that prices are falling and decide to bite the bullet, transactions ensue — it’s natural,” added Roussos, who specialises in the Japanese market and is currently in Japan.
Clarksons reference data tells a clear story.
A 10-year-old kamsarmax cost $25.25m on average in November, down from a 14-year-high of $30m in August, according to a time series compiled by the London brokerage.
Despite the decline, however, prices remain well above their five-year average, which prompts several market watchers to believe there is room for values to decline even further.
One source told TradeWinds: “I believe the market will provide further [buying] opportunities.”
