Hong Kong bulker owner and operator Cetus Maritime has partnered with Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Financial to invest in the handysize sector.
The duo will set up a new asset-owning joint venture with the aim of buying between four and eight eco-designed ships, which will be deployed in Cetus Maritime’s commercial handysize pool.
The joint venture established through the maritime fund managed by Yangzijiang Financial’s subsidiary, GEM Asset Management, will also look to acquire secondhand vessels.
Commenting on the JV, Vincent Toe, chief executive of Yangzijiang Financial, said: “Working with established partners like Cetus Maritime allows us to extract the best value from the market in terms of asset deals, financing, and operational efficiency.”
Created last year by the merger of Hong Kong’s Asia Maritime Pacific (AMP) and Hamburg Bulk Carriers (HBC), Cetus Maritime owns and controls a fleet of over forty vessels in addition to chartered in tonnage.
The company’s CEO, Mark Young, said that Cetus has over the past year been on a fleet renewal path, selling smaller older handies while at the same time buying new modern vessels where good opportunities arise to optimise the fleet.
“This joint venture is a natural extension of that strategy,” he said, adding: “We both believe that, in the medium term, the favourable supply landscape and improving demand for minor bulk commodities will result in higher average dry bulk freight rates despite the present short-term headwinds we are experiencing in dry bulk.”
