Germany’s Schulte Group is reported to have sold its last big tankers as the fleet shrinks further.
European brokers are citing a price of $18.4m or $19m each for the 74,000-dwt LR1 ships Amber and Azurite (both built 2008).
The buyer is not yet known.
The company told TradeWinds it does not comment on such reported transactions.
VesselsValue assesses the tankers as worth $22m each.
Schulte’s tanker fleet will stand at 12 vessels if the sales are confirmed.
All the remaining ships will be of 25,000 dwt and below, built between 2008 and 2012.
The latest sales could be both a fleet renewal move and a way of crystallising higher tanker asset values since the market recovery began this year.
The Hamburg group has been raising money through sales of other older tankers, container ships and LPG carriers so far in 2022 in markets ranging from red hot to improving.
Brokers log the 9,403-teu post-panamax boxship pair Johanna and Judith Schulte (both built 2013) offloaded to Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) for undisclosed prices in July.
Aframaxes gone
Global Feeder Shipping in the United Arab Emirates acquired the 3,534-teu Guenther Schulte (built 2008) for $55m in the same month.
A couple of aframaxes, the 106,000-dwt Angelica Schulte and the 116,000-dwt Sophie Schulte (both built 2005), left the fleet in July and June.
The former is now listed in the fleet of Camellia Jackson in Hong Kong, which paid a reported $19.5m.
The Sophie Schulte was bought by Beks Shipmanagement in Turkey for $18.3m.
Schulte also sold the elderly 16,500-cbm LPG carrier Johann Schulte (built 1998) in June for $6m.
Meanwhile, two bulkers, an ultramax and a handysize, have joined the fleet this year in secondhand deals worth a combined $58.5m.
