Tanker operators in Vietnam appear to have embarked on a buying binge, snapping up four tankers across the size spectrum this week, according to brokers.

The main beneficiary of this tanker charge appears to be Greece’s Minerva Marine, which Greek brokers said has sold the 309,000-dwt Pantariste (built 2002) for $26m and the 105,900-dwt Minerva Zenia (built 2002) for $12m, both to Vietnamese interests.

Minerva, which routinely declines to comment on vessel sales, has sold several tankers into Vietnam this year.

In June, it sold the 105,900-dwt Minerva Astra (built 2001) to a Hanoi-based outfit called Golden Lotus Gas & Real Estate for $10.5m. The ship was delivered in August and renamed Explorer.

The Minerva Zenia was reported sold for $12.3m to Dubai-based Aegean Tankers in June, but was never delivered.

Another Minerva aframax — the 105,700-dwt Minerva Maya (built 2002) — was acquired by Vietnamese interests in early September for $12.2m.

Vietnamese buyers were also reported this week to have acquired Fratelli d’Amico’s 110,500-dwt aframax tanker Mare Tirrenum (built 2004) for $14.7m.

Also reportedly heading under Vietnamese ownership is Santoku Senpaku’s 45,900-dwt product tanker Eagle Matsuyama (built 2010), which is said to have gone for $15.7m.

The ship is on a 10-year charter to AET that is set to expire in November. It is due for special survey in December and requires installation of a ballast water treatment system.

The majority of these recent sales have been linked by brokers to Nhat Viet Transport, one of Vietnam’s larger tanker operators. However, a senior executive at the company said it has not acquired any new ships this year.

New tanker player

Nhat Viet has been linked to seven vessel purchases during 2020, but investigations by TradeWinds reveal that the five that have been delivered by their sellers have turned up in the fleet of Golden Lotus.

Little is known about Golden Lotus except that it is privately owned and began acquiring tankers, LPG carriers and bulk carriers in the early part of this year. It now owns six ships that are chartered to various Vietnamese petrochemical organisations.

Calls to the company’s listed phone number went unanswered.

The Nhat Viet executive said that contrary to links drawn between his company and Golden Lotus by online platform VesselsValue, there were no commercial ties nor ownership interests between the two.

“We are aware of them, but that is all,” he said.

The confusion over who is buying what in Vietnam is likely to have been caused by a convoluted set of ownership chains, partially privatised joint-stock shipping companies, and their relationships with fully private owners.

Petrovietnam, the state-owned oil company, has a 67% stake in its former directly owned shipping arm PV Trans, which in turn has a 51% stake in Nhat Viet.

Privately owned FGAS Petrol is Vietnam’s main independent gas and dry bulk shipowner, with a large portion of its income derived through charters to Petrovietnam via PV Trans.

FGAS has only made one vessel purchase this year, acquiring the 78,451-cbm VLGC Lavender Passage (built 1996) from NYK Line in July for $15.7m.