Laskaridis Maritime, a company controlled by the family of Athanasios (Thanassis) Laskaridis, has been tied to the acquisition of at least one capesize owned by Monaco-based GoodBulk.
Both firms declined to comment on talk swirling in shipping circles in Athens that the 180,000-dwt Aquasalwador (built 2012) and the 179,900-dwt Aquanavigator (built 2011) are changing hands between them for $52m in total.
Several brokers previously reported the two Daehan Shipbuilding-built vessels as sold to unidentified Greek interests — the Aquasalwador for $27m and the older Aquanavigator for $25m.
Some brokers relate diverging information, according to which just the Aquasalwador is in the process of being sold.
“We can neither confirm or deny the rumours on the capesizes as we are bound by confidentiality clauses,” managers at Laskaridis Maritime told TradeWinds in an e-mail.
As it is, the rumours offer the opportunity to shed some light on the developments within the Laskaridis shipping family.
Brothers Panos and Thanassis separated their interests as part of “long-planned generational change”, as TradeWinds reported nearly two years ago.
At the time it was understood that Panos Laskaridis, the elder of the two siblings, would be left in charge of shipping, with the Thanassis side of the family increasing its stake in the clan’s extensive non-shipping business.
Things didn’t turn out exactly that way.
Heading Lavinia Bulk and its management arm Laskaridis Shipping, Panos Laskaridis indeed took over the family’s existing fleet in the water, which consists of more than 50 bulkers, as well as more than 30 reefers and tankers.
Thanassis’ side of the family, however, didn’t entirely leave shipping.
Instead, it took over the group’s bulker newbuilding fleet under Laskaridis Maritime and Alimia Group — management and holding companies that are entirely unrelated to Laskaridis Shipping and Lavinia and are housed in separate offices.
The Greek Shipping Directory currently lists Laskaridis Maritime with 13 ships — six kamsarmaxes and seven ultramaxes that are all built in 2022 or are to be delivered in 2023.
A purchase of one or two GoodBulk capesizes would therefore mark both Thanassis Laskaridis’s first known move in the secondhand market, and his expansion into a bigger bulker class.
Known seller
The purported seller, GoodBulk, has been known to be in selling mode.
In November, the John Michael Radziwill-led company divested the 181,700-dwt Aquataine (built 2010) to Greece’s Vafias Group.
Just after Christmas, brokers linked the company to a further capesize sale, that of the 177,200-dwt Aquahope (built 2007), which is said to have been picked up by Turkish interests for between $18m and $18.5m.
Companies from Turkey and Greece, mainly the Vafias family and Istanbul-based Beks Shipping, have been at the forefront of buying in an otherwise subdued S&P market for such vessels.
In the case of Vafias particularly, the buying is motivated by the calculation that demand for such vessels will increase as China reopens from its self-imposed Covid isolation.
Others appear to be joining in on the act, and not just in Southeast Europe. Chinese interests are said to be spending $15.5m on the 206,200-dwt Cape Maple (built 2005), a newcastlemax described by some brokers as “in poor condition”.
Holly Birkett contributed to this article
