Devbulk, a Turkish handysize specialist, has made its first foray into a different bulker class with the acquisition of a supramax.
The company has revealed itself as the new manager of the 55,900-dwt WP Ambition (built 2015).
Devbulk’s biggest and youngest vessel so far, it features on the company’s website as its ninth ship under its new name, Lady Gulten.
The WP Ambition was reported sold in the middle of February by financial owners from South Korea at a price of $25.5m.
As it moved into supramaxes, Devbulk stuck to its established policy of favouring Japanese-built geared vessels.
According to its website, Istanbul-based Devbulk prefers eco-engine ships with shallow draughts, cranes and grabs that allow them to call at almost any kind of port in the world.
The company is led by members of the Deval family, which has a history of more than a century in the industry and is in its sixth generation of shipowning.
Led by chief executive Hakki Deval and his brother, chief operating officer Orhan, Devbulk is independent and separate from two other Deval family companies — Deval Marine and Devmarin Shipping.
“We wish to expand our supra segment,” Hakki Deval told TradeWinds.
In other supramax deals reported around the time Devbulk purchased the WP Ambition, Greece’s Starmarine is said to have sold a much older ship, the 50,300-dwt Wild Rose (built 2001), to Far Eastern interests for $12.1m.
More recently, Greek interests or Lebanon’s Blue Fleet Group are said to have swooped on the Chinese-owned, 55,600-dwt Orchid (built 2012) for $22.6m.
Blue Fleet has also been tied to the 56,000-dwt Awesome Ashley (built 2011), another supramax sold recently by Taylor Maritime Investments.
