According to market sources, the company has bought the Shikoku-built 29,600-dwt Hudson Bay (built 2011) at a price “very close” to $18m.

This brings to six the number of handysizes the George Dalacouras-led company has bought over the past 12 months, all of them built after 2009. The most modern ships in its 12-strong bulker fleet are the Shin Kurushima-built 33,000-dwt Lefkes and Aspri (built 2014), which were bought off-market as resale contracts in October last year.

Dalex