Lomar takes bulker investment to $127 million inside a year

Lomar is to deliver a further bulk vessel into service this month, its ninth acquisition in the past year.

The newly renamed EBURY TRADER will commence a long-term chartering arrangement with a global logistics provider, following the completion of upgrades at a shipyard in China that includes the installation of energy-saving devices, Lomar Shipping said.

The vessel’s entry into commercial operations represents a total investment of over US$127 million in drybulk vessels in the past 12 month period.

Lomar’s commitment to build its fleet of bulk carriers, which now number 14 in total, comes after it raised more than US$2 billion from the sale of virtually all of its containership fleet.

Lomar CEO Nicholas Georgiou says: “Lomar has largely divested from container shipping during a period of record-breaking markets and is currently re-investing in the drybulk sector where we see considerable opportunities.”

Lomar’s latest addition to its fleet of bulkers is a 57,016-DWT vessel that was formerly named ‘Hai Yang Zhi Hua’. She was purchased from a company in China and originally built at the China Shipping Jiangsu shipyard in September 2011.

The EBURY TRADER follows the purchase and delivery to Lomar in the second half of 2023 of the MANILA TRADER, ROME TRADER, ATHENS TRADER, THAMES TRADER, DART TRADER and AVON TRADER. They followed on from the arrival of the LIMA TRADER and OSLO TRADER in May and April of 2023.  

The nine additions to the Lomar fleet of drybulk vessels have added over 600,000 DWT capacity within the last 12 months.

In October 2022 Lomar completed the acquisition of the Bremen-based Carl Büttner Holding GmbH & Co. KG, at an enterprise value of close to US$160 million, strengthening its interests in the chemical/product tanker sector.