Capes sales are trickling in despite depressing rates in the sector. Rates have slid by more than 20% this week with capesizes now earning a loss-making $10,000 a day. Nevertheless, eager Turkish, Chinese and Dubai-based buyers continue to add tonnage.
Cape statistics from Allied Shipbroking show that close to 50 capes have changed hands so far this year, mostly vintage tonnage.
The latest sale widely reported is the 15-year-old, 176,000 dwt Orient Angel
, a Namura-built vessel, sold for a firm $19m to Turkish interests.
The most active buyer this autumn has been Turkey’s Beks Ship Management and Trading, an outfit that was established in 2011 by the Turkish tycoon Ali Bekmezci. He recently added Shinyo International’s 177,000 dwt, 17-year-old, Namura-built Shinyo Guardian, a ship now renamed Beks Force.
Sales registers also link Beks to the 20-year-old, 185,000 dwt Agia Trias, a ship sold for some $15m by Greece’s Holger Navigation.
VesselsValue shows a double-digit number of vintage capes sold to unidentified takers since August when the European Union banned Russian coal imports, mirroring what has been happening in the tanker S&P markets where unidentified sources dominate recent purchases.
