BW LPG is selling its oldest vessel in a deal that will see the 30-year-old VLGC continue to trade.
The 78,000-cbm Berge Summit (built 1990), which was built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has gone for a steeper-than-expected price of $11m, brokers said. The ship is due for its special survey.
Oslo-listed BW LPG, a spin-off of Singapore-headquartered BW Group, did not respond to immediate requests for comment.
The identity of the buyer has not been confirmed, but some sources have linked the deal to a subsidiary of PetroVietnam.
VesselsValue estimates the Berge Summit to be worth just $8.9m, while Maritime Strategies International says the ship is worth just $6.7m.
But shipbrokers said the market for older VLGC vessels is very illiquid and that ships are difficult to value.
The demolition value of the vessel is calculated at just $4.7m.
In March, a younger VLGC of similar specifications — the 76,000-cbm Portefino Gas (built 1992) — was sold. The price for the ship, renamed Cape Gas and listed in the fleet of one-vessel company Oder Shipping, was not disclosed.
The Berge Summit's sale came at the end of last year, after it had finished a five-year time charter to Vitol at $25,000 per day.
BW LPG bought the vessel in April 2015, when it was the Sunny Hope, from Japanese interests for just $8m.
The transaction also comes as the the seller streamlines and renews its fleet.
In November last year, BW LPG exited the market for large gas carriers, selling its 59,000-cbm BW Ice and BW Nantes (both built 2003) for $33m each in an en bloc deal.
BW LPG is the world’s biggest gas carrier owner and operator with a fleet of more than 40 VLGCs. None of the other ships in the fleet are built before 2000.
The Sohmen-Pao family’s BW Group holds 42.1% of the shares in BW LPG, and Andreas Sohmen-Pao is the company's chairman.
