Monaco-based shipowner Transocean Maritime Agencies is making a move to renew its bulker fleet.
The outfit has bought a four-year-old kamsarmax only a few months after selling a 14-year-old ship, brokers said.
Transocean has purchased the 81,000-dwt Cyl (built 2017) from little-known Lion Shipping for $20.6m, the sources said.
Transocean did not respond to requests for comment.
The price is in line with expectations for a Chinese-built vessel of the Cyl's characteristics.
Ships of this type have been declining in value, with VesselsValue data showing the Cyl was worth $21.4m in September.
Scorpio Bulkers sold a similar Chinese-built vessel, the 82,000-dwt SBI Lynx (built 2018), for $22.5m earlier in January to an unknown buyer, as TradeWinds reported.
In November, Scorpio offloaded the 77,000-dwt bulker Apollo (built 2006), reportedly for $9.3m. This vessel was reported to have gone to a Chinese owner but ended up in the fleet of Grehel Shipmanagement of Greece. It has been renamed Apolo.
The other bulker in Grehel’s fleet, the 76,000-dwt Achille (built 2004), was sold by Transocean in an off-market deal in 2019. The price tag was not disclosed.
Transocean has been trimming its bulker fleet in recent years and 11 of it remaining 13 are kamsarmaxes.
In 2018, the shipowner entered into the MR tanker segment and now has five such vessels. The last to be acquired was the 46,000-dwt Glenda Meredith (built 2010), which was bought from Italy’s d’Amico Group for $19m in April.
