Hong Kong-listed Pacific Basin Shipping has stopped purchases or long-term chartering of any bulk carriers since the end of July.

The company took delivery of all 33 secondhand vessels that it committed to buy over the past two years, a stock filing of the company said yesterday.

Pacific Basin currently operates 213 dry bulkers, comprising 156 Handysize, 55 Handymax and two Post-Panamax, of which 80 are owned by the company, 43 are on long-term charters and 90 are on index-linked or short-term charters.

A further 34 newbuildings, of which 18 are owned and 16 are chartered, are due for deliveries over the next three years. They are predominantly Japanese-built 37,000dwt vessels.

The high-cost, short-term chartered-in Handymax ships, which negatively impacted its first-half results, have largely expired as of yesterday.

In the quarter ended 30 September, Pacific Basin generated Handysize and Handymax average daily earnings of US$8,650 and US$9,840 respectively, which outperformed the weak market by 46% and 17% respectively.