Brokers reported the Sumitomo-built ship as sold for $6.5m to undisclosed buyers last week. Some linked little-known Greek owner Skyjet Shipping and its holding company, Blueshell, to the business.
However, a Skyjet official contacted by TradeWinds denies the company has bought the vessel and Laeisz says it has not been sold.
“Presently, the Piro remains uncommitted and we do not comment on ongoing negotiations,” Laeisz told TradeWinds in an e-mail.
A price of $6.5m would be a further sign of falling bulker values, as it is not much above the vessel’s estimated scrap value of $4.6m.
The price would also be significantly below the $7.7m paid for a similar panamax, the 69,000-dwt Pleiades (built 1997), by Greece’s Arion Management last week.
According to the Equasis database, the Piro’s protection-and-indemnity (P&I) cover switched to the Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) on 13 October. Equasis also says the Piro was detained in its two last port-state controls, in Australia and China, since November 2012. But the deficiencies are understood not to have been too serious.
Skyjet/Blueshell has experience with older bulkers. The Piraeus-based operator is listed with just one vessel, the 75,000-dwt bulker Ag Vartholomeos (built 1995), which it bought as Voge Prosperity for $8.5m in May 2012. In March this year, Skyjet sold the 75,100-dwt bulker Ag Methodios (built 1995) to Ukraine’s Unimor Shipping. It is now trading as Angara.
TradeWinds reported last month on Blueshell seeking the protection of a Panamanian court after the death of a seafarer onboard the Ag Vartholomeos. The company filed papers asking magistrates to limit liability in the incident. Details have not been made public.
