In a glaring disconnect with everything else happening in the dry bulk sector, secondhand capesize deal-making is alive and kicking.

Affinity Shipping last week counted more than 60 capesizes had changed hands so far this year, across all ages, with the sector “standing out for its resilience in terms of both depreciation to asset values and transaction volume”.

According to research released earlier this month by Eva Tzima, head of research at Seaborne Shipbrokers, capesize deals soared at an annual pace of 33% between January and August, compared with a 20% drop in the overall bulker sector.