Serenity Ship Management and S’hail Shipping & Maritime Services are both reportedly adding to their fleets with secondhand bulker buys.
Dubai-based dry bulk outfit Serenity has acquired the supramax bulker Lake Dynasty (built 2009) from Triton Navigation of the Netherlands, according to brokers.
The 55,600-dwt, Mitsui-built ship was reportedly sold for $13.3m.
Serenity appears to be a low-key operator. TradeWinds was unable to find contact details in shipping databases or local online telephone directories.
Assuming control
However, what IHS Ships Register and VesselsValue do reveal is that in the past year Serenity has assumed control of the vessel assets of Syria’s Samin Shipping, and now controls a fleet of five modern handymax bulkers.
Samin, once considered Syria’s most progressive shipping company, shifted its headquarters to Limassol in Cyprus when political strife broke out in the Middle Eastern country in 2011, while operational management of the fleet was moved to Beirut-based Sea Spirit Enterprise.
Samin and Sea Spirit have since fallen off the radar and could not be reached for comment.
Sources suggest that members of the Samin family are involved with Serenity. That the ships are listed as having being transferred to Serenity rather than sold gives further credence to this suggestion.
Some broking reports have even listed Samin as the buyer of the Lake Dynasty
Some broking reports have even listed Samin as the buyer of the Lake Dynasty.
Panamax bulkers
Elsewhere in the Middle East, more details have begun to emerge about Qatar-based S’hail Shipping’s recently announced bulker purchases.
At the end of May, S’hail said it had bought two panamax bulkers that would be delivered to the company this month.
Brokers have now identified one of the pair as being Pyramid Navigation’s 76,600-dwt Chris (built 2006). It is to be renamed S'hail Al Rayan upon delivery.
S’hail is said to have paid $10.8m for the ship, which is described as being in line with current market values.
Market values
The identity of the second bulker, a vessel described as being of 71,400-dwt capacity, has yet to be disclosed to the market.
S’hail was formed in December 2016. Its latest purchases give it a seven-strong fleet of supramax and panamax bulkers.
Three of the ships operate in the Baumarine AS pool.
