Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime is seeking to add a Japanese-controlled aframax tanker to its fleet, brokers say.
UK-headquartered Zodiac is closing in on the 105,000-dwt Lion City River (built 2007) at a time when tanker values have been under pressure.
A price of $20.5m is being circulated in the market for the Namura-built ship.
Recently the somewhat larger 116,000-dwt tanker Isis (built 2007) was sold to Atlas Maritime of Greece for a reported $24m.
Sources say a deal has yet been finalised for the Lion City River, for which only a few owners have shown an interest.
Tanker experts say that the pool of tanker buyers is small at present, given a downturn in the freight market, distress elsewhere in the shipping industry and a shortage of bank finance.
