Illustrative of the soaring prices for bulk tonnage an 11-year-old panamax that was sold at auction last October in India for US$4m has just changed hands again for US$8.5m.

"It's amazing, more than double," one broking source said on news that the 74,000dwt Grand Legend was sold by Jiangsu Steamship. The vessel was originally auctioned to claw back money from the defunct Singapore bulk owning arm of Mercator Lines last October back when it was called Garv Prem.