A tanker that last traded in Athens-based Oxygen Maritime Management's fleet is set to be auctioned in Singapore on 9 October.
The 37,000-dwt product tanker Megacore Honami (built 2010) will be sold via sealed bids, with offers due in at 3pm on the day.
A court-ordered survey describes the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard-built ship as being in good condition and fit for purpose, despite some light surface rusting that would be expected of a ship that has been laid up for the better part of a year.
The vessel is classed by Lloyd's Register, with its certificates valid until 24 February.
TMF Trustee, as the agent for lenders Bank of America and Burlington Loan Management, arrested the Megacore Honami in October last year. Burlington, an affiliate of hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management, holds mortgage rights to the ship after buying them from Bank of Scotland in September 2013.
Year-long chase
The arrest came after a year-long chase, made difficult by what a UK High Court judge described as the ship's “renegade existence, unable to trade or, therefore, generate income, for the most part drifting aimlessly, seeking to conceal her location and generally 'on the run' from the inevitable and lawful desire of the claimant to arrest it and secure potential claims”.
TMF sought to arrest and sell the ship, together with a fleetmate, the 74,600-dwt LR1 product tanker Megacore Philomena (built 2010), claiming both were in breach of loan covenants as they had had fallen below 125% of the outstanding loan value.
Oxygen managing director Charilaos Loukopoulos fought the claim in courts in the UK and US, disputing the valuation figures from brokers Braemar and BRS as failing to take account of the ships' high specification.
Loukopoulos argued that apart from low valuations, the lenders had put up financial obstacles to the vessels' profitable operation, including a quarterly cash sweep, $5.69m in extra loan pre-payments over a two-year period, and made efforts to sell the ships while Oxygen was trying to save them.
Unconvincing
Oxygen's arguments were not persuasive enough to prevent the sale of the Megacore Philomena (built 2010). It sold for $19m at an auction held in Los Angeles in September last year. The vessel went to Interunity Management Corp of Greece, which renamed it the Madison.
Interunity was also appointed technical manager of the Megacore Honami after TMF took control of it in Singapore.
Oxygen controlled a fleet of four tankers prior to TMF taking legal action against the two Megacore ships. In August, one of the remaining pair of tankers, the 46,100-dwt Alpine Duke (built 2009), was sold for a reported $19m.
Single-ship entity Winchester Shipping bought the vessel and renamed it the Swift Winchester. The company shares Oxygen's address, suggesting that the manager will continue to be involved with the ship.
According to IHS Markit data, the 46,100-dwt Alpine Marine (built 2010) remains under Oxygen's control.
TradeWinds was unable to reach Oxygen for comment by phone and emails to addresses listed on its website failed to be delivered due to full mailboxes.
