Samin Shipping has ended a long hiatus on the sale-and-purchase front, buying a Japanese-controlled handymax.

Samin officials confirmed to TradeWinds that it had bought the 37,300-dwt bulker Cielo di Tokyo (built 2008), which was listed last week by several European brokers as being sold to undisclosed interests.

Brokers said it went for $12m — slightly lower than VesselsValue’s $12.7m evaluation, probably because it is due for special survey and dry-docking in July.