Japan’s Toei Reefer Line looks to have exited tanker shipping with the sale of its last chemical carrier.
European brokers have reported the disposal of the 20,000-dwt J19-type stainless steel vessel Wawasan Bluefin (built 2008) to unknown interests for $18.5m.
The vessel has been owned by Toei since delivery.
VesselsValue assesses the ship as worth $17.5m, with a special survey due.
The deal would leave Toei with five reefers, two built in the 1990s and the others in 2011, 2015, and 2018
Three reefers were sold in 2019 and 2020.
The Japanese company has been contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, the MR sales carousel kept turning with more reported deals by Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM), a shipowner held by state energy companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
Brokers said purchase contracts have been agreed for the 46,900-dwt Gulf Elan (built 2007) and Gulf Esprit (built 2006), but no price has been given.
The Hyundai Mipo-built ships are commercially controlled by Iino Lines in Japan.
Their sale would leave three MRs in the GEM fleet.
LR1 fleet gone
In June, TradeWinds reported that GEM was believed to have raised close to $120m from the sale of its entire LR1 roster.
Shipping market sources, brokers and online reference platforms said the Dubai-based company had offloaded five such vessels since May, in separate deals with counterparts in Turkey, India and the Middle East.
Eva Tzima, head of research and valuations at Greece’s Seaborne Shipbrokers, said the upside in the MR freight market stood out across the board over the last week.
Earnings were not only outperforming those of larger tankers, but also managing to stay comfortably above $25,000 per day for a fourth week in a row across both the Atlantic and Pacific basket routes.
“MR vessels are also witnessing more interest compared to other size candidates in an otherwise quiet sale and purchase market,” the analyst added.
“The relatively small discounts in MR values over the course of the summer period seem to be more than enough in enticing investors who remain focused on the bigger picture (and the winter season ahead) and take advantage of times when sentiment softens to achieve even a slight discount from sellers’ original ideas,” she said.
