South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine has made a big profit on the sale of two panamax container ships in the red-hot market and has splashed out $42.5m to buy a secondhand VLCC.
The diversified owner is said to have sold the 4,253-teu Singapore Bridge (built 2002) and the 4,432-teu Baltic South (built 2010) en bloc to liner giant Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) for $160m.
At the same time, the company is laying a wager on a tanker recovery by acquiring a Hyundai-built VLCC — the 298,996-dwt Athenian Success (built 2010) — from Athenian Sea Carriers.
One South Korean shipping source following Sinokor’s activities described the company as having the “mentality of some big Greek shipowners” that sell vessels at high prices and buy into low-price ships when a market is weak.
“It has carried out successful transactions in the past and is continuing with the [sale-and purchase] strategy,” said the shipping source.
Sinokor did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.
Sinokor is believed to have sold the two container ships above their market values as online database VesselsValue lists the current price tag on the Singapore Bridge as $59.99m and Baltic South as $92.48m.
The company is estimated to have made a profit of $139m on the sales. It bought the Singapore Bridge eight years ago for $11m and paid about $10m for the Baltic South in 2019.
Sinokor is a tonnage provider but also a liner operator. According to Alphaliner, the two container ships sold by the South Korean company are currently on charter to Heung-A Shipping — an intra-Asian liner operator. But the two companies were merged in late 2019.
Sinokor has been building up its boxship fleet with newbuildings for the past few years.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows the company is scheduled to take delivery of 16 newbuildings — four vessels of 2,500 teu and 12 ships of 1,800 teu between 2023 and 2024. Ulsan-based Hyundai Mipo Dockyard is building the boxships.
The expected recovery of the tanker market and a shortage of VLCCs from 2023 were cited to be reasons behind Sinokor’s purchase of the VLCC Athenian Success.
“The current price of a VLCC newbuilding is too high, while modern secondhand ship is expensive. It makes more sense in buying in an older tanker,” said a tanker source.
On the newbuilding front, Sinokor has six aframax crude carriers and six MR tankers under construction at domestic shipyards. The ships were ordered against charter contracts from oil majors Shell and ExxonMobil.
