Japanese shipowners are turning to pools and the midterm charter market as the best trading option for modern bulkers that have been returned early by financially troubled operators.
Japan’s local private owners, based mostly in the southwest, are the country’s main tonnage suppliers. They have been left with dozens of ships — mostly ultramax, supramax, panamax and post-panamax bulkers — on their hands following the financial collapse of operators such as Daiichi Chuo Kisen Kaisha and Western Bulk.
Many
