Oman Shipping Co (OSC) has sealed a long-anticipated move into the ultramax bulker market, which extends an active period of fleet growth for the company.
The shipowner is understood to have swept up a pair of 64,000-dwt vessels nearing completion in China in an agreement valued at $46m by shipbrokers.
Shipbrokers named the vessels as the Yangtze Brave and Yangtze Angel, which are under construction at Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard in China for delivery this year.
Busy 2019
The ships were the only two newbuildings listed in the fleet of New Yangtze Navigation of Singapore.
The deal continues a busy 2019 for OSC, which has seen notable additions of VLCC newbuildings, and comes at a time of renewed confidence in the dry cargo and purchase markets following a summer upturn in rates.
OSC, now led by acting chief executive Michael Jorgensen, has been open about plans to invest in bulkers of this size to handle gypsum and limestone from its homeland.
The company previously set up a chartering desk at its headquarters in Muscat to secure tonnage and has now added this pair of owned vessels to the picture.
Vast fleets
OSC is best known for its vast tanker and gas fleets. But the shipowner is already active in dry cargo ownership with four VLOCs and a pair of smaller vessels.
Broking sources described the $23m-per-ship price for the pair of ultramax newbuildings as excellent at a time when buyers are starting to return to the market following the collapse of a Vale dam, which sent rates spinning downwards.
Brokers told TradeWinds that prices are starting to pick up with the increased liquidity in the market, and suggested that buyers targeting modern tonnage in both the dry and tanker sectors makes sense given the flow of new legislation coming in next year.
“The Vale flood was a tragedy and the market was very negative at the start of the year,” one broker said. “Sentiment is starting to improve.”
Further deals
The OSC deal is not the only notable transaction involving modern ultramax bulkers.
Eagle Bulk Shipping is in the process of buying four vessels from Nautical Bulk Holdings as part of a wider package of six ships worth $122m supported by a notes offering.
OSC has a fleet of 40 owned ships on the water, spanning the bulker, tanker and gas markets, according to data from Clarksons.
At the start of this year, it inked two new VLCCs at DSME and, this summer, it added a third ship to the series.
Jorgensen told TradeWinds at the start of 2019 that the company was looking to follow up the tanker fleet expansion with growth into the dry cargo and containership sectors.
“It is a growth strategy for us,” Jorgensen said. “We have a clear mandate from our shareholders to move forward.”
The plan calls for a renewal of the tanker fleet and a strong focus on containerships and dry bulk tonnage to support the Sultan of Oman's Logistics Strategy 2040 (SOLS 2040), a government initiative to diversify the country’s economy beyond oil and gas.
