We are in week 43 of the year and yet again Bangladesh’s SR Shipping is linked to another supramax and it is no surprise that the active outfit is being touted as the buyer of a Japanese-built ship.
This time it’s an Oshima-built ship that SR is buying, brokers tell Splash. The bulk specialist is laying $12m on the table for the 54,000 dwt bulker Falcon Trader 2, a price in line with market levels according to online portal VesselsValue.com.
, a price in line with market levels according to online portal VesselsValue.com.The Falcon Trader 2 was in the shop window earlier this year. When it was first for sale in January it was priced at $8.5m – its eventual price today shows how Japanese bulker tonnage prices have firmed throughout 2016.
SR appears to bargain hard as the company has picked up way less ships than it’s reported buying by brokers this year. In this sale however the company is close friends with the seller of the ship, Nisshin Shipping, who it has concluded sales with earlier this year. In January, SR picked up the one year older Aston Trader II from the same outfit, this ship has later been renamed Jahan Moni, while it bought a six-year-old supramax from Japan’s Kambara Kisen for $11.7m in August. This ship has since been renamed Jahan Brothers.
I understand more companies in Bangladesh seeking to buy vessels. In fact Akij is probably going to buy few more supramaxes along with few other players because some of these groups have millions of cash. Bangladesh will soon make a mark in the shipping industry as they did for the garments industry.