Genco Shipping buys scrubber-fitted Capesize bulker

December 1, 2023, by Fatima Bahtić

U.S.-headquartered drybulk shipowner Genco Shipping has acquired 2016-built 181,000 dwt scrubber-fitted Capesize vessel, Genco Reliance.

As informed, the vessel was purchased for $43 million. The company took delivery of Genco Reliance, as well as the previously announced Capesize acquisition, Genco Ranger, during the last week of November 2023.

Genco also revealed that it has agreed to sell Genco Commodus, a 2009-built 169,098 dwt Capesize vessel, for $19.5 million.

According to the shipowner, this anticipated sale will result in drydocking savings in 2024 due to the vessel’s upcoming third special survey. The vessel is expected to deliver in January 2024.

Genco intends to fund the above acquisitions through a combination of cash on hand, a drawdown on its revolving credit facility and proceeds from the sale of Genco Commodus.

“Assuming this drawdown on our revolver and the closing of our previously announced $500 million credit facility, we expect to have debt outstanding of approximately $210 million and undrawn revolver availability of approximately $290 million,” the company noted.

“We are pleased to have taken important steps to advance our fleet renewal strategy. Leveraging our significant financial strength, we opportunistically acquired two modern, fuel-efficient Capesize vessels, while divesting older, non-core tonnage. We expect these two new Capes will seamlessly integrate into our global commercial platform, as sister ships to existing Genco vessels. Importantly, we’ve enhanced the average age of our asset base and improved our earnings capacity to take advantage of favorable long-term industry fundamentals,” John C. Wobensmith, Chief Executive Officer, commented.

“Given that the acquired Capesizes are high-specification vessels, we viewed these fleet additions as highly attractive, positioning Genco well for the longer term while also improving the efficiency of our fleet to further reduce our carbon footprint.”

Wobensmith also emphasized that going forward, the firm intends to continue to assess additional sale and purchase transactions.

As of November 2023, Genco Shipping & Trading Limited’s fleet consists of 19 Capesize, 15 Ultramax and 12 Supramax vessels with an aggregate capacity of approximately 4,997,000 dwt.