The Leer-based shipping group Briese is getting two new MPP ships for its fleet, which were acquired on the second-hand market with the Norwegian investor NRP. They are “old acquaintances” for the Briese Group.
“BBC Naples” and “BBC Newcastle” were acquired on the second-hand market, as the investor Ness, Risan & Partners (NRP) has now made public, with Briese as the “project sponsor”. They have been sailing for some time with Briese subsidiary BBC Chartering, the global market leader in MPP shipping. The Norwegians did not disclose any further information, such as the purchase price. “BBC Naples” and “BBC Newcastle” were built in 2010 and 2009. The tweendeckers have a lifting capacity of 9,800 tons and two 60 t cranes.
This is not the first transaction with NRP for Briese. The two companies had already worked together on a series of new bulkers.
According to information from HANSA, the vessels in question are the former “Thorco Avantgarde” from the Marship fleet and “Unisoul” from the Held Shipping fleet, both based in Haren an der Ems.
Briese and BBC operate on the second-hand market from time to time. In order to modernize the fleet, however, the East Frisians also rely primarily on newbuilds. Various new-build series are currently being delivered successively.
According to Hamburg-based broker Toepfer Transport, the order book for 13,000 dwt “Lakermax” vessels was recently increased from 15 to 21 units – plus an option for a further six. Briese also has newbuildings in the “F500” segment with around 12,250 tdw, with three of the eight ships ordered now in service. These new bulkers have also been ordered and put into service in recent years – as have a dozen container ships and several Oteco 9,000 freighters for the carrier Briese Chartering. A new business division has been set up specifically for the bulk carrier business.
BBC Chartering currently operates an MPP fleet of 145 ships with a total of more than 1.5 million tons. According to Toepfer Transport, this gives the carrier a market share of 9.76% for ships with a crane capacity of more than 100 tons. If the market analysis is based only on the (mostly somewhat younger) ships with at least 240 tons, the figure is as high as 14.07%.
