Sale and purchase broker George Iliopoulos says if Japanese vessels are excluded the majority of today’s sales candidates were bought at low levels during previous two years.

“A number of 15 year old handymax vessels that were bought between $8m and $9m in either 2012 or 2013, are currently in the market for a price tag of around $13.5m which undoubtedly is a great return,” he wrote in a report.