The standout dry cargo deal of the week comes from the newcastlemax sector, where Rio Tinto’s shipping arm has sold a pair of sister vessels, RTM Cartier and RTM Zheng.

The 205,000 dwt pair, both built at HHIC Philippines in 2012, are reported to have been sold to Chinese buyers for a firm price of $90m en bloc by numerous brokers.

The sale comes as a surprise to many. The transaction is one of only a handful of deals to emerge this week, with buyers staying selective and only the most targeted opportunities finding traction.

Rio Tinto has owned the vessels since delivery from newbuild, and the ships are understood to have generated significant returns for the mining group over their trading lives. The pair were originally ordered en bloc as an eight-ship order in 2010 at about $62.5m per ship.

Data from VesselsValue shows Rio Tinto controls a fleet of 17 vessels, including these eight newcastlemaxes.

The sale is notable as Rio Tinto is not generally associated with secondhand disposals, preferring instead to order ships for in-house employment rather than pursue opportunistic asset plays. All of its vessels carry the RTM prefix.