Cetus Maritime, the great consolidator within the fragmented handy bulk space, has struck again. The Hong Kong bulker outfit is merging its fleet with Chile’s Nachipa Corp to create a 65-ship strong company – roughly split 40 owned and 25 chartered in. The news comes just over a year after Cetus Maritime was created via the merger of Asia Maritime Pacific and Hamburg Bulk Carriers. No price has been revealed for this latest transaction, which is expected to go through by the end of next month. “The fit with Nachipa was obvious to both sides from the start,” said Mark Young, Cetus Maritime’s CEO. “For Nachipa, fleet scale is key to realising their business strategy. For Cetus, the Nachipa team is an impressive addition to our operational business, while the Nachipa vessels are accretive to our growing eco-fleet. As we have seen in the market over the past six months, consolidation is a key element to sustainable, successful growth.” Nachipa managing director Felipe Simian will join the Cetus Maritime management team. In a release today, Cetus Maritime said it would continue to grow its fleet towards larger, uniform, attractive eco-designed vessels. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsChile Hong Kong