Swiss bulker owner Suisse-Atlantique has offloaded another older panamax bulker as it continues to trim its fleet.
Greek brokers said the company had sold its CSBC-built, 73,000-dwt Celerina (built 1999) to an undisclosed buyer for $5.5m.
Chief executive Jean Noel Andre confirmed that the Celerina is committed for sale.
Values weakening
The deal verifies a trend in weakening values for such bulkers. In May, the 80,000-dwt Cemtex Prudence (built 2000), which was also built at Taiwan's CSBC Corp, fetched $8m in a sale to U-Ming Marine Transport.
A price of $5.5m is still higher than the $4m per ship that Suisse-Atlantique reportedly fetched for two sisterships — the General Guisan and Nyon (both built 1999) — when it sold the duo to Chinese interests in January last year.
The ships have been in the company’s fleet since they were new and were big earners during the boom years. The quartet was reported ordered for $26.5m to $28m each.
Boxship exit
The company became a pure bulker owner in 2015 when it sold its remaining containerships. It is currently listed with a fleet of 15 bulkers from handysizes to post-panamaxes.
The Celerina sale represents the first sale since reports in August that Suisse-Atlantique had sold its 29,700-dwt bulkers Silvretta and Silvaplana (both built 2003) to an undisclosed buyer for $14.3m enbloc.
The sale of the Silvretta, however, was not concluded.
The Silvaplana was sold to Newport of Greece, which has renamed it the Agia Marine.
