Illustrative of the soaring prices for bulk tonnage an 11-year-old panamax that was sold at auction last October in India for $4m has just changed hands again for $8.5m.
“It’s amazing, more than double,” one broking source told Splash today on news the 74,000 dwt Grand Legend was sold by Jiangsu Steamship. The ship was originally auctioned to claw back money from the defunct Singapore bulk owning arm of Mercator Lines last October back when it was called Garv Prem.
Jiangsu Steamship seems prepared for more asset play having picked up the Italian-controlled, 74,000 dwt bulker Primrose for just $3.2m in September last year. It now has thirteen mostly larger and a bit older bulkers to play with.
Dry bulk tonnage has shot up in price dramatically in the last nine months.
In its most recent weekly report broker Intermodal commented: “The improvement in today’s prices is not the result of a market bubble that has led to inflated prices but merely a delayed correction, which has shocked perspective buyers only because it has taken place in such a short period of time.”
