Meghna Group, one of the largest Bangladeshi conglomerates, and its shipping arm, Mercantile Shipping Lines, have emerged as the taker of a five-year-old ultramax sold by Eyal Ofer-led Zodiac Maritime, tabling close to $33m for the five-year-old, 63,400 dwt Beechgate. The ship has been renamed Meghna Legacy and is the fourth modern Japanese-built ultramax added to the Mercantile Shipping Lines fleet this year.
While Mercantile Shipping Lines’s bulker arm has ballooned to 26 Japanese-built bulkers, adding a small handful of vessels each year, Zodiac Maritime is more busy selling second-hand tonnage. Last month, brokers noted that the London-based outfit was offloading the 74,500 dwt Fulham Road tanker, built in 2013, for just under $45m. This ship has since emerged in the Athens-based Naftomar Shipping & Trading fleet.