Two shipping heavyweights have picked up capesizes from Claus-Peter Offen in bank driven sales at an opportune time in the markets with cape freight rates hitting four-year highs this week.
Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime, which has been inspecting many capes this year without tying down too many deals, is believed to have taken the 2011-built CPO Asia, for $26.5m, in a deal that includes a time charter through to the end of May set at $11,500 a day. Meanwhile, Rickmers is linked with the acquisition of the one year older CPO America, which has gone with a price tag of $24.5m.
With these two bank driven sales, the dry bulk fleet of Claus-Peter Offen has been halved and comes amidst a year of dramatic consolidation among the German merchant fleet.