Eagle Bulk Buys Two Ultramaxes

Eagle Bulk Shipping has acquired two Ultramax bulk carriers, the U.S.-based dry bulk owner-operator announced Tuesday.

The first vessel, which was built in 2015 and will be renamed the Helsinki Eagle, has been acquired for $16.5 million. The second vessel, which was built in 2016 and will be renamed the Stockholm Eagle, has been acquired for $17.65 million. Both SDARI-64 scrubber-fitted ships were constructed at Chengxi Shipyard Co. Ltd.

Closings are expected during the first quarter of 2021, with the M/V Stockholm Eagle delivering to Eagle in the Atlantic basin.

The sales follow the company’s recently-announced acquisition of a similar specification vessel renamed Oslo Eagle.

Gary Vogel, Eagle Bulk’s CEO, said, “We have continued to actively renew our fleet this past year, acquiring three modern/efficient scrubber-fitted Ultramaxes and divesting five of our vintage Supramaxes, with an average age of approximately 18 years.

“Over the past four years, we have turned over almost half of our fleet, acquiring 23 modern Ultramaxes and selling 19 older Supramaxes. These transactions have vastly improved our fleet makeup—increasing the average size of our ships, improving our fleet age profile, and reducing our emissions footprint on a per deadweight-ton basis.

“We believe that our fleet renewal strategy along with our active management approach to trading will help us maximize our cash generation potential and continue to deliver on our market outperformance.”