Singapore ship leasing company Yangzijiang Financial has teamed up with bulker player Cetus Maritime to invest in handysize bulkers.
The new asset-owning joint venture said it initially aims to acquire between four and eight modern, eco-designed handysizes to be deployed in Cetus Maritime’s commercial handysize pool.
Yangzijiang and Cetus Maritime said in a statement that the joint venture would also “acquire secondhand vessels at an opportune time”.
Yangzijiang Financial chief executive Vincent Toe said the partnership offered a “promising pipeline of transactions” that can generate attractive returns for its maritime fund.
“Working with established partners like Cetus Maritime allows us to extract the best value from the market in terms of asset deals, financing and operational efficiency.”
Cetus Maritime chief executive Mark Young said the joint venture represented a natural progression of the shipowner’s existing relationship with Yangzijiang Financial.
“We have a deep understanding of each other’s business practices and share similar philosophies regarding secondhand values, market dynamics and asset strategy,” he said.
“By combining forces, we are confident in the success of this venture and the collective benefits it will bring.”
Over the past year, Cetus Maritime said it has been executing its fleet renewal strategy, selling older smaller handysizes, while at the same time buying new modern ships where good opportunities arise to optimise the fleet.
“We both believe that, medium term, the favourable supply landscape and improving demand for minor bulk commodities will result in higher average dry bulk freight rates despite the present short-term headwinds we are experiencing in dry bulk,” Young added.
Cetus Maritime, which was created by the merger last year of Asia Maritime Pacific and Hamburg Bulk Carriers, describes itself as one of the largest privately held handysize players in the world, with over 50 owned and or operated vessels.
The company focuses on larger versatile handysize vessels of 32,000 dwt up to 43,500 dwt and has an operational business on vessels up to ultramax.
“The fleet will continue to grow towards larger, uniform, attractive eco-designed vessels that comply with current environmental regulations and look beyond to future fuel solutions,” the company added.
Yangzijiang Financial, which was spun off from Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, has been in acquisition mode since announcing it was setting up a new maritime investment fund with an initial capital of up to $250m in August 2022.
Since then, the company has taken its deal-making to 12 vessels that includes stakes in two chemical tankers — the 26,200-dwt RT Star (built 2011) and 20,000-dwt Celsius Mayfair (built 2007).
Yangzijiang Financial has also entered into a co-chartering agreement for eight 50,000-dwt eco MR chemical and product tankers with an unnamed charterer for a period of less than a year for each vessel.
