Booming containership markets continue to spawn remarkable asset plays for owners with the luck or foresight to have bought such ships at the right time.

Tsakos Shipping & Trading, the Greek Tsakos family’s private arm, is said to be homing in on a $26m profit from the sale of the 3,398-teu Sphene (built 2007).

US brokers reported on Friday that undisclosed interests are buying the Hanjin Heavy Industries-built panamax boxship for $39m.

Tsakos Shipping purchased the vessel in February from Germany’s Bernhard Schulte, or its clients, for just $13m. The Sphene entered the Greek owner'sfleet in May, as TradeWinds reported.

Managers at Tsakos Shipping were not available for comment. However, shipbrokers at Southport Atlantic described the deal as “an impressive profit-taking exercise”.

The Tsakos family is mainly known for its tanker fleet, most of which is managed by US-listed Tsakos Energy Navigation.

The clan’s private side, however, has about 20 bulkers and containerships.

Simply irresistible

Tsakos Shipping has capitalised on the containership upturn.

In March, it sold the 2,826-teu Irenes Reliance (built 2005) to Thailand’s Regional Container Lines for $16.1m.

While it was not the highest price the ship could have potentially fetched, it was still a good deal. The Irenes Reliance had been trading in its fleet since delivery as a newbuilding from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) and was worth about $5m last summer, before the market boomed.

Another asset play could yet prove irresistible. In November, Tsakos Shipping bought a sistership to the Sphene — the 3,398-teu APL Brisbane (renamed Irenes Ray, built 2006) — for $8.7m from Germany's NSC.

The ship is currently worth up to $37m, according to VesselsValue and Market Strategies International.

Other Greek owners that have scored considerable profits from the sale of boxships in recent months include the Embiricos family, Cosmoship Management and London-based Lomar Shipping, with the latter having reportedly sold up to 10 vessels since May.

Tsakos’ has also been renewing its fleet. In May, the company placed its first containership newbuilding orders in 18 years, booking a pair of feeder vessels at HMD due for delivery in April 2023.

On Friday, TradeWinds reported that Tsakos Shipping was also in talks to offload its oldest aframax tanker, the 114,800-dwt Pericles (built 2003), for more than $13m. Brokers in the US and London have since reported a sale has been concluded.