Chinese buyers have paid $35m for the 173,555 dwt capesize Ekaterini V, taking Estonian owner Klip Marine out of the segment in the first reported sale of the size since September and the second within weeks to a Chinese purchaser.

The 2012-built vessel, constructed at Bohai Shipbuilding, faces its special survey and drydocking in January — a factor brokers point to when explaining why it changed hands at a discount of more than $5m to a comparable Chinese-built capesize sale.

The benchmark transaction is the Golden Myrtalia, a 177,979 dwt capesize built in 2011 at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, which reportedly fetched more than $40m — also from Chinese buyers. Brokers suggest the gap between the two prices partly reflects the Ekaterini V's slightly smaller size and differences in market reputation between the two Chinese shipyards.

Who else has been buying?

The two latest sales follow a quiet September that closed with Shanghai-listed HNA Technology agreeing to pay $31.1m for the Bulk Joyance, a 175,900 dwt capesize built in 2012 at Jinhai Heavy Industry, with relatively prompt delivery.

Another deal slipped under the headlines that month. Sunrising International, an outfit known for trading older secondhand tonnage, exited the capesize segment by selling the 20-year-old, 174,092 dwt Highland for $25m — a ship it had added for around $15m in early 2024. That exit locks in a gain of roughly $10m in under two years on an aging unit.

The pattern is consistent: every reported capesize sale in this stretch has gone to Chinese money, and two European owners have used the demand to exit the segment entirely.

What does the buying signal about the market?

The increased interest from Chinese buyers comes against a firmer market backdrop. Clarksons recently noted that its iron ore indicator was up around 6% year-on-year — a signal that fundamentals on the key capesize trade are improving, not deteriorating.

For sellers, that firmness translates into pricing power. Owners holding 2011-2012-built, Chinese-yard capesizes are realizing $31m to $40m-plus depending on size, yard pedigree and survey status. The Ekaterini V's $5m-plus discount to the Golden Myrtalia shows how sharply the market prices survey timing and yard reputation — a spread buyers can exploit when sellers need to move before drydocking liabilities land.

For buyers, the calculus runs the other way. Chinese interests are absorbing tonnage across the age spectrum — from 20-year-old units at $25m to near-identical modern sisters in the $40m range — suggesting a strategic build-out rather than opportunistic bargain-hunting. The Highland's rapid appreciation from $15m to $25m in under two years illustrates the returns available to those who bought early in the recovery.

Forwarders and cargo interests should read the transactions as a positioning signal. When buyers step in ahead of special surveys and pay up for modern units while iron ore indicators run 6% ahead of last year, owners are signalling confidence in capesize earnings power into 2025. Sellers exiting now — like Klip Marine and Sunrising International — are banking gains at levels that may look conservative if the iron ore recovery holds.

With October headlines dominated by tankers, the capesize secondhand market has quietly repriced. If Chinese buyers keep absorbing available tonnage and the iron ore indicator maintains its year-on-year advance, the pool of modern capesizes for sale looks set to shrink — and the next reported sale to test the market will likely clear above the Golden Myrtalia's $40m mark.