Thenamaris, a Greek shipping giant keenly observed in the secondhand market for its usually smart moves, is becoming active as a seller of bulkers again.
Several brokers in Athens, London and the US report that the 75,600-dwt Seawind (built 2006) is being sold.
Unidentified interests are said to be spending $15.2m on the ship, which is the last panamax in Thenamaris’ fleet of 23 bulkers. The company has been betting on modern ship sizes instead, ordering two kamsarmaxes and four ultramax newbuildings last year.
The Japanese-built Seawind is Thenamaris’ oldest bulker, with the exception of a pair of supramaxes that also look like sale candidates — the 55,400-dwt Seaboss and Sealuck II (both built 2004).
Values hold steady
Thenamaris declined to comment, in line with company policy not to discuss commercial matters.
The Seawind sale comes amid a revival of secondhand activity in the bulker market following a lull in August.
The main driving force was a drop in secondhand values that encouraged buyers to enter the fray again. Activity has increased to such an extent since that prices have stopped falling or, in some cases, have risen.
“Values are currently steady ... the majority of the vessels sold have changed hands at similar levels compared to the last done,” brokers at Athens’ WeberSeas said in their latest note to clients.
As buyers seek to gain cheap market entry, prices of ships built in the early or mid-2000s are fetching higher-than-expected prices compared with younger counterparts.
Doric Shipbrokers said in its latest weekly report: “Older vessels’ desirability has kept their values stable and allowed them to avoid further decreases.”
The Seawind may be a case in point of prices even rising.
The $15.2m that it reportedly fetched is above the $14.5m that a comparable vessel changed hands for last month — Orion Bulkers’ 77,100-dwt Bellatrix (built 2006), which went to clients of Greece’s Veritas Shipmanagement.
Another major company that has been busy in the market selling older panamaxes is Navios Maritime Partners.
In September, it revealed the sale of the 75,200-dwt Navios Camelia (built 2009) for $15m.
Brokers have linked Navios to four more sales of older panamaxes since. The latest is the 76,600-dwt Navios Taurus (built 2005), which is said to be changing hands for $14m in an all-Greek deal.
Greece’s Apollonia Lines reportedly sold a similar vessel at a similar price — the Imabari-built 76,600-dwt Blue Chip (built 2007) — to unidentified South Korean interests for $15m.
Sale-and-purchase activity is also being recorded in smaller and slightly younger vessels.
Byzantine Maritime is said to have shed the 56,800-dwt Fanoula (built 2008) for between $15.5m and $16m.
The Nicholas G Moundreas Group is reportedly disposing of the 56,800-dwt Porthos (built 2010) to undisclosed buyers for $16m.
Greeks are not the only ones selling. Turkey’s Manta Denizcilik is linked to its first bulker disposal since January, that of the 32,000-dwt Manta Cicek (built 2011) at an undisclosed price.
