UK shipping fund Tufton Oceanic Assets has sold another container vessel for a handsome profit in hot markets.
The London-listed company has also added to its bulk carrier fleet.
In a filing, Tufton said an unnamed boxship has gone for $19.35m producing an internal rate of return of 23%.
The large feeder vessel is either the 2,546-teu Hammonia Palatium (built 2006) or Sealand Guayaquil (built 2009), bought in March 2018 as part of the company's second acquisition deal.
Tufton added the ship was acquired for $11m.
The deal follows the company's three containership divestments in 2021 and will be the owner's eighth ship sale in total since it began acquiring vessels in 2018.
"Whilst the company aims to hold its investments over the longer term, the investment manager will seek to realise investments where additional value can be generated for shareholders," Tufton said.
Meanwhile, the fund has spent $23.75m on an unidentified handysize bulker, a price below direct newbuilding replacement costs.
Charter attached
The dry cargo carrier comes with a fixed-rate time charter of between 18 months and two years.
This will produce a net yield of more than 15%.
"It is in the top quartile of fuel efficiency in its market segment but will be evaluated for further improvement, including the retrofit of energy-saving devices," Tufton said.
Tufton said likely future targets for acquisition include chemical and product tankers, and bulkers.
At the end of 2021, Tufton splashed out close to $55m on vessel purchases.
A product tanker was bought for $30.9m and a handysize bulker for $23.6m, but were not named.
Brokers now say the tanker was the 50,500-dwt Dong A Krios from Dong-A Tanker of South Korea.
The bulker is reported as the 36,400-dwt New Journey from Hsin Chien Marine of Taiwan, the fifth ship Tufton acquired from that owner in 2021.
Tufton said the ships came with fixed-rate time charters of between 12 and 24 months for the tanker and 18 to 24 months for the bulker.
Brokers have linked Tufton to moves for two more Dong-A ships.
These are sisterships of the Dong A Krios: Dong-A Themis and Dong-A Triton (both built 2015).
