Alexander Oetker deems the sale by his shipowning company AO Shipping of an ultramax bulker as “the right decision” at this point in the cycle. The Hamburg-based shipping company has sold the 61,288-dwt bulker Daniela Oetker (built 2015) to unidentified buyers for around $30m. The vessel was purchased several years ago for around $27m. But AO Shipping has retained the 61,288-dwt sistership Letizia Oekter (built 2015). “We thought it would be prudent to have one for longer and let the other one go,” said Oetker.

The sale follows the delivery to AO Shipping last month of the 81,000-dwt BW Canola (built 2014). The kamsarmax bulker was reported sold for $24m in April, with a three-year time-charter back to BW Dry Cargo. Since then, its value has appreciated to around $31m, according to VesselsValue. The ship, which has been renamed Belmonte, was delivered last month to AO Shipping. The deals involving the two bulkers will leave AO Shipping with a fleet of around 10 vessels.

All the ships are technically managed by Hamburg-based shipmanager Orion Reederei, including its supramax and panamax vessels. Oetker is relatively bullish on prospects for the dry sector for the next two years due to supply and demand fundamentals. But he argues it was right to “let go” of one of the two ultramax sisterships in the company’s fleet. “We’re still very conservative,” he said. “But don’t be exposed, because this market may change very, very quickly,” he said. “There will be Black Swans everywhere, so selling one (of the ultramax bulkers) in these conditions is the right decision.”