International Seaways is poised to collect $50m from the sale of two 2008-built MR2 sister tankers.
The diversified tanker owner is in advanced discussions to sell the 51,250-dwt Seaways Niagara and Seaways Nantucket for about $25m each, US and Greek shipbrokers said on Sunday and Monday.
A US-based broker described a buyer for one of the vessels as based in the Middle East.
A Seaways spokesman declined to comment on Monday, saying the company’s policy is not to discuss sale-and-purchase deals until there is a completed contract.
However, tanker market sources deem the discussions well along and more likely than not to bear fruit.
If confirmed, the sale prices would be slightly up on VesselsValue’s estimates of $24.4m for the Seaways Nantucket and $23.75m for the Seaways Niagara.
The New York-listed shipowner has been a seller of older product tankers, although executives said in an earnings call last November that there is a tension between disposals and continuing to run them at profitable rates.
“The products are just really earning,” chief executive Lois Zabrocky said then. “So we feel like these MRs are just a complete strength for us. And we certainly see that they are trading very competitively in the market. We’ve maintained them very well and they have really strong potential.”
Chief commercial officer Derek Solon added: “Because the rates have been so good on the MR side, we see increasing opportunities for charters. What we are looking for is multi-year charters for some of the ships around the 2008, 2009 vintage.”
While the biggest portion of the MR fleet came over in Seaways’ 2021 acquisition of Diamond S Shipping in a $416m all-stock deal, the STX Offshore-built pair under discussions is not from that stable. The Seaways Niagara and the Seaways Nantucket have been under the ownership of Seaways and its predecessor Overseas Shipholding Group since they were newbuildings.
