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Weekly Broker: Christmas rush for supramax bargains

The past week has seen continued firm interest in the secondhand bulker market with considerable transaction volumes especially for supramaxes and panamaxes. With next week likely to be dormant this was the last time for owners to get their Christmas presents in the bag. In the meantime, the secondhand tanker market remains subdued with out any festive cheer amid the uncertain outlook for tanker freight rates.

“On the dry bulk side, there still seems to be plenty of buying interest around and with the freight market having made an impressive final jump in terms of earnings, it is of no surprise that competition amongst buyers will firm. We have yet to see any significant shifts in terms of pricing yet, though in some size segments and age groups we may well see some improvement materialise in the first couple of weeks of the year,” Allied Shipbroking said in its weekly report.

Clarkson, Advanced Shipping & Trading and Lorentzen & Stemoco have linked the sale of 2001-built Evanthia with Chinese owner Zhejiang Nan Xin Shipping, a unit of panamax bulker operator Ningbo Longsheng Shipping. The 74,400 dwt vessel, which has been renamed Nan Xin 9, was acquired from Greek owner Angelopoulos Constaintine’s Aegean Bulk for $8.5m.

Both Allied Shipbroking and Advanced Shipping & Trading reported that Norwegian owner EGD Holding has sold its 2008-built supramax Caroline Victory for a price of $13.8m. Allied Shipbroking has identified the buyer as Greek owner New Vision Shipping.

Multiple shipbroking houses including Advanced Shipping & Trading, Seasure Shipbroking, Clarkson and Intermodal all reported a deal in which Greek owner Polys Hajioannou’s Safe Bulkers bought the 2010-built post panamax Americana from compatriot company Merchant Marine Management via an auction. The 91,941 dwt vessel has fetched a price of $15.8m.

Additionally, Intermodal and Allied Shipbroking revealed that French owner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs has taken over two resale handysize bulkers from Chinese yard Jiangmen Nanyang. The two newbuildings (hull 152, hull 153) were part of four 39,300 dwt bulkers ordered by Chinese owner Sino Asia Lines. The price for each vessel is $20m.

“We have seen a fairly subdued week in the tanker sale and purchase market, no doubt partly due to the upcoming holiday season. Publicly traded companies continue to look for consolidation opportunities as the tanker markets remain under pressure and pricing appears attractive. It remains to be seen what the ownership landscape will look like in 2018, but chances are we can expect some changes. We are seeing a slow trickle of more modern units coming to market and as previously mentioned, interest is certainly increasing for these ships. There are no sales to report for the week,” Clarkson said in its latest report, foreshadowing today’s big news regarding the merger between Euronav and Gener8 Maritime.

Several shipbroking houses including Andreas J. Zachariassen, Intermodal and Seasure Shipbroking identified Dutch owner Ace Tankers being behind the purchase of the 20,000 dwt chemical tanker Fairchem Yuka from Japanese company Tamba Kisen. Ace Tankers is said to have paid $18.5m for the 2010-built vessel.

The sale and purchase activity on the containership sector has been limited over the past week. There was only one deal reported by shipbrokers. Taiwanese owner Wan Hai Lines purchased the 2005-built 2,700 teu boxship Passat Summer from Hamburg-based Passat Schiffahrtsgesellschaft for $9.2m. Following the sales, Passat drives off into the sunset having completed the sale of its entire fleet.

Jason Jiang

Jason is one of the most prolific writers on the diverse China shipping & logistics industry and his access to the major maritime players with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives. Having been working at Asia Shipping Media since inception, Jason is the chief correspondent of Splash and associate editor of Maritime CEO magazine. Previously he had written for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week.
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