The Golden Ocean Group Ltd. unit bought the four-year-old Seafarer Bulk, the Oslo-based shipbroker O-J. Lbaek said in a note to clients yesterday. The vessel has 74,577 deadweight tons of loading capacity, the broker said.

Rates for dry-bulk freighters have surged in the past two years amid a shortage of vessels and growing imports to China. The Baltic Dry Index, which measures costs to send dry-bulk goods on ships of several sizes over multiple routes, rose to a record 6208 a week ago.

Oscar Spieler, the chief executive of Bermuda-based Frontline?s operations division, declined to comment.

Frontline is spinning off Golden Ocean, which now operates three dry-bulk ships. The shares are slated to start trading in Oslo on December 15.

Golden Ocean owns two Capesize vessels able to load 172,000 deadweight tons. The eight-year-old Channel Alliance is on a contract until September 2006 and the seven-year-old Channel Navigator is tied up until October. The Irfon, leased by Golden Ocean until 2009, has been let to a third party until 2007.

Shipbrokers said last week Frontline was paying $85 million for two ships under construction in China. The vessels have 74,500 deadweight tons of loading capacity

Golden Ocean will grow through cargo contracts, ship purchases, charters and financial instruments, Frontline says.