Indonesia's shipowners are hungry for tonnage as coal contracts of affreightment (COAs) from state-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and other private power producers are in the offing.
Singapore-based sale-and-purchase sources said this week that Indonesia’s dry bulk player Melco Jaya Bahari (MJB) was in the process of buying the 50,300-dwt bulker Condor (built 2001) from Eagle Bulk Shipping for $6.8m.
While MJB executives could not be reached for comment, broking sources familiar with the company said it had been in the market for several bulkers.
TradeWinds has learned that in October MJB bought the 50,000-dwt bulker Eigen (built 1999) from MOL for $7.2m in a deal that was not widely reported.
The Eigen has since been renamed HI 02. Together with the company’s 42,000-dwt HI 01 (built 1992), it is being used to ship coal from Kalimantan to power stations on the islands of Java and Sumatra.
Tender issued
Meanwhile, Djakarta Lloyd, Indonesia’s oldest shipping company, is actively seeking to buy a supramax or ultramax bulker. It has issued a tender asking for interested parties to submit proposals for a vessel of between 45,000 dwt and 60,000 dwt.
As the vessel will be used purely in the domestic coal trade, the company is targeting older tonnage and has stipulated a preference for a vessel built between 2004 and 2007.
TradeWinds understands eight vessels have been pitched to Djakarta Lloyd through brokers including Fearnleys, Simpson Spence Young, Hartland Shipping Services, Aquamarine, Arrow Shipbroking, Eurochart Shanghai and Howe Robinson.
The company is said to be shortlisting three candidates deemed suitable for further inspection before proceeding with any purchase.
In recent years, Djakarta Loyd has been transforming itself from a struggling liner company to a bulk logistics player.
First move
The company’s fleet of old containerships has progressively been hauled away to scrapyards, while in March it made its first move into bulkers when it bought the Norden-controlled, 55,700-dwt bulker Nord Maru (built 2006).
The ship now carries coal from Kalimantan to power stations around the Indonesian archipelago under the name Dharma Lautan Intan.
As a state-owned company, Djakarta Lloyd has to acquire ships through a tender process that some sources who have dealt with the company describe as being very bureaucratic.
A September tender for another ultramax does not appear to have proceeded to the point where a vessel was purchased.
Power companies in Indonesia traditionally issue their annual COA contracts towards the end of the calendar year, which leads to an annual rush to acquire suitable tonnage by shipowners that are able to get contracts.
