Tomini Shipping wants to sell two of its older supramax bulkers.
The Dubai shipowner has placed the 57,000-dwt Tomini Ability and 56,700-dwt Tomini Infinity (both built 2010) on the sales block.
A sale would net Tomini a healthy profit, as both were acquired for $7m each in late 2016. VesselsValue indicates that the Tomini Ability would be worth about $10.7m today, while the Tomini Infinity could attract $12.7m. Estimates from rival valuation service Maritime Strategies International are in the $12.4m to $14.3m range.
The duo is among seven bulkers that Tomini purchased in 2016, when prices were at rock-bottom levels. Since last year, it has been steadily selling them off at healthy profits.
Late last month, there were suggestions in shipbroking circles that the Tomini Ability was being sold to Chinese interests but TradeWinds understands that no deal was concluded.
The three vessels that have been confirmed as sold would have netted the company more than $9m in profit, if prices reported by brokers at the time of their purchases and sales were correct.
Chief executive Nitin Mehta acknowledged that the company did well during the brief period it owned the ships. “We made some money out of trading them and have sold them at good profits,” he told TradeWinds.
The sales proceeds will be used to part-finance the three ultramax and three kamsarmax bulkers that the company ordered at Chinese yards last year. Tomini will start taking delivery of these at the beginning of next year.
It currently has 11 ships on the water, most of which are ultramaxes delivered from Chinese yards between 2015 and 2018.
Mehta said that while the dry bulk market has been doing well lately, the company is not in a buying frame of mind.
We made some money out of trading them and have sold them at good profits
“Let’s just say we are in a ‘watch and wait’ mood. We are waiting for six more ships to be delivered and we are waiting to see what happens with the 2020 sulphur cap. While we are not saying no to any good deal that might come along, we are not actively looking,” he said.
Considering scrubbers
Tomini is considering putting scrubbers on its kamsarmax newbuildings but Mehta said it does not make economic sense to fit them on the supramaxes and ultramaxes until scrubber prices come down enough to justify their break-even costs.
Tomini, meanwhile, continues to work on securing financing for its newbuildings.
“It is not a matter of finding financing, it is a matter of concentrating on the cost,” Mehta said. “Now that we are established and [have] proven that we can run our ships well, we can bring down our financing costs.
“Banks are more willing to lend. We have been talking to a couple of European banks, a local UAE bank and a Chinese bank.”
Privately owned Tomini’s main shareholders are its chairman, Imtiaz Shaikh, and his family. The company began more than 40 years ago as the shipping arm of the family’s Pakistan-based cotton-trading business and has focused primarily on the dry cargo trades.
A subsidiary specialises in rare vintage cars, which can at times sell for almost as much as a secondhand bulker. The proceeds of the car sales have in the past been used to fund vessel purchases.
Tomini’s ships are commercially managed out of Denmark by Alpina Chartering, which holds a 10% ownership stake in the vessels Tomini has ordered since 2013.
