Dry bulk shipowners are not rushing to the yards to order new tonnage, despite enjoying a booming sector in which spot rates have doubled in the past month.

They are instead looking to secondhand ships for asset play to remain nimble in the sales-and-purchase market while waiting for pending environmental regulations to take hold.

"If you buy a secondhand ship — maybe you made a booboo maybe you feel uncomfortable with it — you go into the secondhand market and you get rid of it," Goodbulk chief executive John Michael Radziwill said.