Teekay Tankers has agreed to sell its three oldest suezmax tankers in separate deals with Greek shipowners — boosting the company's coffers by close to $60m.
In the most recent of the deals, the New York-listed tanker owner sold the 159,200-dwt Narmada Spirit (built 2003) to New Shipping, the company controlled by major Greek shipping player Adam Polemis. TradeWinds understands that ship fetched a price in the region of $19m.
The deal is Polemis's first foray in the sale-and-purchase market since April, when New Shipping acquired a 15-year-old VLCC from Japanese giant MOL.
The second Teekay suezmax to go was the 165,300-dwt Iskmati Spirit (built 2003). Market sources said Chemnav Shipmanagement bought the vessel for about $19m, marking its entry into the suezmax segment.
The Paul Coronis-led outfit was initially focused the segment for smaller tankers with a series of Sekwang Shipping-built 13,000-dwt vessels.
Chemnav started taking on larger tankers in November 2017, when it bought the 105,000-dwt Singapore Voyager (built 2003), paying some $10.4m and renaming it Delos Voyager. The ship is today likely worth some $13.7m.
A year later the Greek company acquired the 105,000-dwt BM Bonanza (built 2007), reportedly paying $17m.
News of the first Teekay Tankers deal emerged in December, when the 165,000-dwt Ashkini Spirit (built 2003) was reported sold to undisclosed Greek interests for at least $19.4m.
Charalambos Mylonas-led Transmed Shipping has emerged since as the buyer. The vessel is now trading under its new name, Evagoras. Its technical management has been entrusted to Goodwood Ship Management, which also manages another suezmax that Transmed bought from Teekay back in 2018, the 151,800-dwt Zeno (built 2003).
Vancouver-based Teekay Tankers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The outfit, a spin-off of Teekay Corp, axed its dividend in November in an effort to pare down debt. Its chief executive Kevin Mackay also told investors he was in principle ready to part with some of the company's oldest ships.
“If we think it's the right time to execute, we will go ahead and pull the trigger,” MacKay told analysts, according to the transcript of a conference call on 14 November.
Any decision would be made “on a case-by-case basis,” he added.
