The list of Greek owners milking the booming containership market for all it's worth in terms of asset play opportunities just got longer, with Dragnis family company Goldenport Shipmanagement entering the fray.
Two feederships that the company bought last year, when freight rates for such vessels were in the doldrums, are being resold at a multiple of their initial acquisition value.
Athens brokers reported that the 1,819-teu San Alvaro (built 2007) is going to Danish buyers for $33m. According to VesselsValue, the ship was worth $5m when it changed hands in the summer of 2020, when it left the fleet of Reederei Claus-Peter Offen.
A similar pattern has emerged with the 1,819-teu San Antonio (built 2008), another ship previously with the same German owner.
The San Antonio appeared in the Goldenport fleet in September 2020 and the shipowner is believed to have flipped it in August this year to undisclosed buyers for about $32.5m.
Managers at Goldenport declined to comment, as part of standard policy not to discuss day-to-day operations.
It's hard to imagine the owner resisting such a deal, however, considering the steep appreciation of both vessels since they entered the company's fleet.
Asset play yields 450% profit
The Dragnis family may even have scope to repeat the same lucrative asset play three more times.
The Goldenport fleet includes a further three sisterships it looks to have acquired from the Offen Group in the summer of last year: the 1,841-teu San Alfonso and San Alberto (both built 2007) and San Amerigo (built 2008).
Tsakos Shipping & Trading, another Greek shipowner, has reportedly carried out its second impressive asset play in three months.
According to Athens brokers, Tsakos' 2,824-teu Irenes Respect (built 2006) is being sold to a French liner company for $43m.
Tsakos bought the sub-panamax containership five years ago as Patricia Schulte for just about $7.8m.
Managers at the company did not respond to a request for comment. Tsakos, however, is known to have made a similar containership deal recently.
In July, TradeWinds reported how the Athens outfit tripled its money when it sold the 3,400-teu Sphene (built 2007). Tsakos offloaded the ship for $39m, a few months after buying it for $13m.
The Sphene now trades as BSG Bimini under the ownership of a German limited partnership.
