Fratelli Cosulich has tapped into the sell-off of tankers controlled by troubled Singaporean oil tycoon OK Lim and his Ocean Tankers by acquiring a small bunker vessel.
Joining Fratelli Cosulich’s growing fleet of Singapore-based bunker tankers is the 5,000-dwt Marine Elite (built 2014), which will be renamed Grazia Cosulich.
The acquisition brings the Genoa-based owner’s bunker tanker fleet up to seven vessels.
“This purchase represents a further step aimed at strengthening our presence in what we consider an incredibly important port, for us and for the entire industry,” the company said in a statement on Friday.
“It is not easy to invest at times like this, but we believe in our strategy and we feel it is important to be able to seize opportunities when they present.”
Pricing details for the sale have yet to be disclosed. VesselsValue estimates the ship is worth about $6.5m.
Ocean Tankers, via the vessel-owning entity An Ju Shipping, acquired the tanker as the Blackburn from Transocean Oil in late 2017.
Bunker tanker fleet
IHS Markit lists An Ju owning another seven small bunker tankers of between 1,200 dwt and 5,000 dwt. According to a recent report by Ocean Tankers’ interim judicial managers, An Ju is linked to the Lim family’s Xihe Group.
Its ships were operated on bareboat charter by Ocean Tankers, who in turn chartered them to affiliated oil trader Hin Leong Trading.
The judicial managers said they had received notices from Hin Leong purporting to terminate the contracts of all 25 bunker tankers it had chartered from Ocean Tankers.
Fratelli Cosulich added that it was working on another vessel acquisition involving a small launch that will be used to support its bunker tanker fleet.
“The launch will be called Genoa, in honour of our home city and of the main football team in our city,” the company said.
The Lim family, through Xihe and associated vessel owning entities, has put 43 tankers of various sizes and types on the market.
Inspections frustration
Despite the difficult selling conditions, with brokers expressing their frustrations at getting hold of detailed vessel specifications and guidance on how and where prospective buyers could inspect the ships, deals are slowly beginning to emerge.
TradeWinds reported on Thursday that an undisclosed Russian buyer paid $18m for the 298,300-dwt storage vessel Sea Coral (built 1996), while two bunker tankers were sold to TFG Marine, a new bunkering company created by Trafigura, Frontline and Golden Ocean.
