Fleet renewal may be the key to survival for bulker owners down the road as it has become increasingly difficult to trade old vessels in a market where charterers can fix newly-built tonnage for a song.
Seanergy Maritime Holdings’ chief executive Dale Ploughman says, “What we would like to do if we had a wish list would be to increase our fleet size with more modern tonnage and at the same time diversify and [phase] out the older tonnage.”  
Commenting on the decision to part ways with the 38,632-dwt African Zebra (built 1985), which Seanergy sold at a loss earlier this month, the executive said the bulker market “could not support” a 27-year-old handymax.
“She had to go,” he explainded, adding: “We'll be taking a hard look some of our other older [vessels] while at the same time we'll be looking for opportunities to try and bring in some newer ships and therefore bring our age profile down a bit.”