The recent rise of quoted dry cargo bulk ship firms has shocked veteran Wall Street analysts. But will a dampening of dry cargo rates spur a move to merge?By George Lauriat, AJOTIn the old days, dry bulk shipping was a staid business waiting to wink out, like a dying star, as the containership sector gobbled up the freight, terminal space and even investment money. But over the last five years, dry bulk shipping has become a glamour business. Talking about the sector has become even a regular part of share market TV with hosts like “Cramer” extolling the virtues of the dry bulk shipping market. Diana (DSX), Dryship (DRYS), Eagle Bulk (EGLE), Excel Maritime (EXM), Genco Shipping (GNK) and Navios Holdings (NM),Quintana Maritime (QMAR) to mention a few, are now regularly featured in investor forums. In fact investors have taken to spending money in the sector like drunken sailors on shore leave. The interest in dry bulk operators isn’t without merit. Freight rates have been booming (even with this past week’s hiccup) and the value of the ships has soared. Public offerings by the bulk ship operators have attracted a lot of attention. Just this week Greek drybulk shipper EuroSeas, Ltd. priced its public offering of about 6.3 million shares of common stock, including 500,000 secondary shares offered by a shareholder, at $17 per share. According to press reports, the price is a 6.3% discount from Nov. 6 closing price of $18.14. The price reflects an increase from an anticipated offering of about 5.8 million shares. Underwriters will be granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 948,750 shares from EuroSeas to cover any over-allotments. Wachovia Securities and Oppenheimer & Co. were joint bookrunning managers. Euroseas expects $93.4 million in net proceeds from the offering, which it will use to buy more vessels. Euroseas isn’t alone in taking a shot raising cash with public a public offering. Sinotrans Shipping Ltd, one of China’s largest transportation groups, is reportedly looking to raise HK$11.45 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) that has drawn interest from US hedge fund Citadel Investment Group LLC. According to Chinese press reports, Sinotrans Shipping plans to offer investors 1.4 billion new shares at HK$7.18 to HK$8.18 each. The sale may be expanded by another 15% to meet demand and stabilize the share price. Sinotrans Shipping says it will use about 80% of the sale proceeds to expand its fleet and buy shipping companies. With high prices and a tightening of shipbuilding capacity at the shipyards, Sinotrans and other players may be on the prowl for smaller carriers with relatively new tonnage. Geneco Shipping and Trading is a good example. This year, Geneco expanded their fleet by 173% on a tonnage basis, by agreeing on the acquisition of nine capesize vessels from companies within the Metrostar Management Corporation group for a purchase price of approximately $1.1 billion, and the acquisition of six drybulk vessels from companies within Evalend Shipping Co. S.A. for an aggregate purchase price of $336 million. Genco Chief Financial Officer John Wobensmith in a interview with Reuters made the comment that the vessels ordered in July are now worth significantly more than the purchase price and the company was still considering further expansion said. In late September, Genco had a secondary offering that netted around $214 million, which was used to pay down debt related to the vessel acquisitions. Wobensmith noted without naming names that the carrier is “examining acquisition opportunities”. In March one of the more interesting dry bulk IPO’s was launched. Oceanaut, which is a sort of sister company to publicly traded Excel. Christopher Georgakis is chairman of both companies and Excel is something like a sponsor of the new firm, as it initiated the IPO. Oceanaut was formed with the express purpose of being a “blank check” company to purchase dry bulk tonnage too be placed on medium and long term charters. Recently, it was repor