Managers of the Sea Stallion Pool have set their sights on commercially managing a fleet of about 40 modern handysize bulkers.
The expansion is expected to come from existing and non-pool members attracted by Hamburg-based Sea Stallion's ability to outperform the market, believes Oliver Harms, director of chartering and operations at German shipping company Aug Bolten.
Aug Bolten is the commercial manager of the pool, which has been expanding and recently bagged its 27th vessel with the addition of a fifth ship from its newest member, M/Maritime of Greece.
M/Maritime entered the 37,323-dwt box-shaped bulker Charisma Gr (built 2019) into the pool at the end of April.
Growing ambition
But the pool managers have expressed their ambition to expand Sea Stallion by up to 10 ships, increasing the fleet to about 40 ships.
Sea Stallion was founded in 2013 by Ariston Navigation of Greece, which is controlled by the Xylas family.
It teamed up with Lydia Mar — the Piraeus-based affiliate of Aug Bolten, which is controlled by Gerhard Binder and is Germany’s second-oldest shipping company.
Sea Stallion began operating with a fleet of just eight eco-optimised 36,000-dwt handysize bulkers.
Today, it has six members, but Harms said it wants to remain “a medium-sized, owners-minded pool”.
Other members include Castleton Commodities Shipping and the German investors behind the 37,839-dwt Mountpark (built 2016) and Glenpark (built 2017).
M/Maritime, which joined in October, is the newest member. It has five ships in the handysize pool, as well as two more under construction that will be included.
Harms said that further growth is likely should existing pool members take on new projects, either through time charters or acquisitions.
Attractive performance
But he believes the key to attracting new members could be the good performance of the pool, which has consistently outperformed the market.
Ships in the pool earned 22% over the benchmark Baltic Exchange's Baltic Handysize Index (BHSI), which measures time charter rates for 28,000-dwt, non-scrubber fitted geared bulkers.
The vessels earn up to 8% over the more recently introduced BHSI 38, which measures rates for similar ships of 38,200 dwt.
But I still believe that in the second part of the year, and going forward, the fundamentals for the handysize market are not too bad. cannot deny the market is pretty low. We would have expected differently
Oliver Harms
The market for handysizes this week remains in the doldrums at about $7,623 per day, according to the BHSI 38, and $5,711 for the BHSI.
The vessels are mainly operated in the spot market but obtain a small premium owing to their fuel-efficient, eco-friendly designs.
Harms is optimistic that the prospects for the handysize bulker market remain positive.
“I cannot deny the market is pretty low. We would have expected differently,” he said.
“But I still believe that in the second part of the year, and going forward, the fundamentals for the handysize market are not too bad.”
Sea Stallion members have invested in the handysize sector for the long term — not for short-term asset play — Harms said. This provides some stability to the pool going forward, he believes.
The pool is one of a number of cooperative measures involving Aug Bolten.
In April, it teamed up with MPC Capital's bulker technical management joint venture Ahrenkiel Vogemann Bulk, which manages 17 ships.
