Hong Kong's Caravel Group sells bulker pair to Chinese buyer

Hong Kong conglomerate the Caravel Group has sold two of Chinese-built Kamsarmax bulk carriers to a Chinese buyer in a deal valued at approximately US$41 million.

The two vessels are the 81,073DWT Explorer Oceania (pictured) and the 81,093DWT Explorer Asia, which were delivered in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Both were built by Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry (HT) in China.

Caravel acquired the two vessels in July 2018 from Nisshin Shipping of Japan for a total of US$48.5 million.

Caravel owns Fleet Management, a third party ship management company. It also operates a dry bulk business focused on Supramax to Kamsarmax bulk carriers.

With the sale of the two bulk carriers built by HT, Caravel will exit the Kamsarmax bulk carrier sector, leaving its own fleet of three Ultramax bulk carriers built by Japanese shipyards.

Caravel’s last reported vessel acquisition was in October 2022, after which the company focused more on investing in other shipping companies.