Big bulkers are hauling in very sizeable sums of cash, and ships are changing hands at a rapid clip.
Splash data shows February marked a monthly record for newcastlemax sales. In total, 10 oversized capes were sold, according to VesselsValue.
Newcastlemaxes have a maximum beam of 50 m, and a maximum length overall of 300 m and refer to the largest vessel able to enter the port of Newcastle in Australia.
Among recent sales, OMC Shipping has just sold the 10-year-old, 208,000 dwt Imabari-built Pacific Assurance for a very firm $48.5m to Chinese interests.
In mid-February, two Greek names entered the newcastlemax segment. Thenamaris added four ships, costing in the region of $65m from Polaris Shipping, while Neda Maritime added two 2019-built newcastlemaxes – the Bulk Shanghai and Bulk Seoul – sold for $127.5m from Tor Olav Trøim-backed 2020 Bulkers.
Meanwhile, Chinese heavyweight Winning Shipping is noted to have added two ships from US-based Foremost Maritime.
Spot cape rates leapt 90% last month to above $31,000 a day with a new report from broker Arrow suggesting rates will continue their ascent in the coming months.
“Consider this interesting fact,” Arrow mused, “In the second half of last year, average Capesize tonne-mile demand was 28% higher than in February. Furthermore, since 2013, the average demand during the second half of the year has never been lower than that of February.”
