The new alliance of pools operator Heidmar and manager Signal Maritime has suffered the first of predicted tanker defections with the loss of three International Seaways aframaxes.
The departures had been mooted by tanker market sources and were confirmed on Wednesday by Concord Maritime chief executive Ben Ognibene, whose Dakota Tankers aframax pool will be taking in the tonnage.
New York-based International Seaways is moving the 112,792-dwt Seaways Redwood (built 2013), 112,989-dwt Seaways Yellowstone and 112,905-dwt Seaways Yosemite (both built 2009).
Rising Dakota fleet
The Lois Zabrocky-led company joins Atlas Maritime, Chartworld Maritime, Emarat Maritime and Concord affiliate TankerTime as Dakota members, pushing the fleet to 14 units.
Deliveries are expected within the next few weeks.
“We’re very pleased to be working with the [International] Seaways team again,” Ognibene told TradeWinds.
“They are first-class owners with quality vessels who, like us, value relationships and share our enthusiasm for the global aframax markets.”
Ognibene is a former Heidmar chief executive and one of the co-founders of Heidmar’s Sigma tanker pool, which is losing the International Seaways trio.
The transfers are not unexpected and are likely to be just the first of a batch of vessels whose owners opt out of the Heidmar-Signal alliance, tanker sources said.
Heidmar and Signal surprised the market on 6 January when they jointly announced that the artificial-intelligence provider had been brought in to manage the Heidmar pools, which were 100% owned by Greek shipowner George Economou.
The surprise apparently extended to some of the pool members, who indicated they were blindsided by the changes and were quick to speak privately of investigating their alternatives.
Heidmar fold
Soon after the Signal announcement came word that Economou would fold the Heidmar operation by June — a move that has not been officially announced but which was communicated to employees, according to sources who spoke to TradeWinds.
The first redundancies began within days.
A little more than a week after the announcement, Signal chief executive Panos Dimitracopoulos downplayed the potential loss of vessels.
"Some pool partners were caught by surprise by the deal and were considering their options," Dimitracopoulos said in an email to TradeWinds at the time.
"Nevertheless, we have no reason to believe any partners will be exiting. We have been in touch with most of them who feel comfortable joining Signal and see the new structure as an opportunity for improved performance.”
However, talk of withdrawal notices and, ultimately, defections has persisted since, with Stamford-based Concord being one of the companies tipped as likely to receive the tankers.
Also tipped was Penfield Marine, an outfit run by former Heidmar chief executive Tim Brennan. Other major pool operators, such as Navig8 Group, also were rumoured to be hearing from owners seeking a switch.
Dwindling membership
Connecticut-based Heidmar, sold by founder Per Heidenreich for a reported $210m in 2006, has been in long decline in both value and numbers of tankers in its pools of VLCCs, suezmaxes, aframaxes and panamaxes.
The Sigma aframax pool had been its biggest remaining arm at the time of the Signal announcement, with 11 partners and 18 ships, including chartered-in tonnage from Heidmar, according to the company’s website.
Members included Aktif Shipping, China Merchants Group, FSL Trust Management, Great Eastern Shipping, International Seaways, Kondinave, Liquimar Tankers Management, Nan Fung Group, Phoenix Energy Navigation and Qatar Petroleum.
Vessels across Heidmar’s pools had dwindled from more than 100 in 2017 to fewer than 50.
Trust and transparency were said to be issues for members, especially as Economou’s ownership stake in Heidmar went from 49% to 100% last year through then-public company DryShips.
Economou-owned ships do not participate in the Heidmar pools.
The tanker market was raging when the Heidmar-Signal alliance was first announced. This caused some to speculate that pool members might be reluctant to switch employment and risk off-hire days.
However, the market has plummeted since due to the coronavirus outbreak and the removal of US sanctions against the tanker fleet of Chinese owner Cosco. This development has likely changed the calculation for some.
International Seaways, spun off from the old Overseas Shipholding Group, has been enjoying a renaissance under the leadership of Zabrocky and chief financial officer Jeffrey Pribor.
It was also the top-rated tanker owner in analyst Michael Webber’s most recent “corporate governance scorecard” of management best practices.
International Seaways operates a fleet of 40 vessels, including 13 VLCCs, two suezmaxes, four aframaxes/LR2s, 11 panamaxes/LR1s and seven MR tankers.
