A 19-year-old VLCC formerly owned by New York-based Icon Capital has emerged in the fleet of Cosmoship Maritime, a young Greek company that has only recently entered the large tanker arena.
Athens-based Cosmoship Maritime posted on its website that the 307,000-dwt Eagle Virginia (built 2002) is part of its managed fleet. The vessel has been renamed Fos.
The Eagle Virginia’s previous owner reportedly sold the ship to Chinese investors for $25m in late January, just after its 10-year bareboat charter to AET expired.
Managers at Cosmoship Maritime, a company led by former Thenamaris and Bariba executive George Fournaris, did not respond to a request to comment on whether they acquired the Eagle Virginia at that price.
The Eagle Virginia is a close match of Cosmoship Maritime’s first VLCC acquisition in a deal reported by TradeWinds in January. The 309,300-dwt Pantariste (built 2002) has been renamed Skip.
Both vessels are 19 years old and were built at South Korean yards. The Eagle Virginia was constructed at Hyundai Heavy Industries, while the Pantariste was built at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Ulsan facility.
Complicated history
The identity of the Eagle Virginia's seller remains unclear.
The ship has a complicated transaction history. It was originally owned by Icon Capital. The New York-based lessor, however, said in a regulatory filing in 2017 that it divested the vessel the year before to an unaffiliated company that it did not identify.
Oaktree Capital Management was rumoured as the ship’s buyer. The US investment giant, however, has yet to comment on the matter.
The same opaque history applies to the 300,000-dwt VLCC Eagle Vermont (built 2002), which may have also recently changed hands.
Icon Capital used to own that vessel too. The company fixed it on a 10-year bareboat charter with AET and then sold it in 2016 along with the Eagle Virginia.
Despite that 2016 sale, Equasis and IHS Markit continued listing a Singapore-based unit of Icon Capital as the Eagle Vermont's registered owner.
The ship was reported sold again in January 2021, alongside the Eagle Virginia, to Chinese buyers for $25m.
The Eagle Vermont has been recently renamed and is trading as Beyond. Its new owners have yet to emerge.
Cosmoship Maritime is not to be confused with Cosmoship Management, which is a separate containership and dry bulk outfit based in Piraeus.
