With sources close to John Fredriksen telling Splash he’s gearing up for a dry bulk binge, his right hand man at Golden Ocean has done his bidding, by trashing the sector.
Speaking at a conference in Oslo, Herman Billung, ceo at Fredriksen’s dry bulk line, said the sector faced “a lot of bankruptcies”. This week, Norwegian firm Bulk Invest, formerly known as Western Bulk, became the latest bulker company to fold. Speaking with Bloomberg later Billung added: “In dry bulk, we haven’t seen as bad a market since the Viking age. Has it ever been this bad in modern history? I would say no.”
Fredriksen pocketed $510m from a share sale in Marine Harvest, a salmon fish farmer, earlier this week. Splash understands much of these proceeds will be ploughed into dry bulk bargains and distressed offshore assets. In December, Fredriksen formed a new firm, Sandbox, to acquire distressed rig newbuilds.