Pangaea Logistics Solutions found itself in a familiar place in the first quarter — making more money — even as it kept working on expanding and modernising the fleet.

The strong quarter and continued robust outlook inspired the New York-listed bulker operator's management to raise its quarterly dividend to $0.035 per share from $0.02.

US-based Pangaea also said on Tuesday that it had acquired a Japanese-built 58,000-dwt supramax built in 2013 for about $17.8m,