Turkey’s Manta Shipping has carried out a remarkable asset play, selling a 17-year-old LPG carrier at a significant mark-up to what it bought it for less than two years ago.
Clarksons reports the Istanbul-based company is selling the 38,500-cbm Manta Salacak (built 2007) to South Korean chemicals player Lotte Fine Chemical for $40m.
Manta bought the ship in July 2022 from US-listed StealthGas and partners for almost $28m.
StealthGas previously bought the ship in the summer of 2019 for just $20m.
The doubling of the ship’s value since then provides further evidence of the robust state of the market for midsize LPG carriers.
Twelve-month time charter earnings for vessels similar to the Manta Salacak are at an average of $1.2m per month so far this year, according to Clarksons. That compares with an average of $838,000 per month in 2022 and $989,000 per month in 2023.
Fully refrigerated vessels can trade across a wide range of routes and cargoes, such as ammonia and ethylene.
This is likely why Lotte Fine Chemical paid top dollar for the vessel.
Managers at the Seoul-based company did not respond to a request for comment.
However, TradeWinds has reported that it was about to enter ammonia shipping.
In April, Lotte Fine Chemical signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean container ship and VLCC owner HMM to transport and bunker the green fuel.
Under the plan, Lotte Fine Chemical, which has South Korea’s largest ammonia storage facility, would procure ammonia and methanol bunkers for HMM’s fleet.
The Manta Salacak is on a one-year charter with Athens-based Naftomar at about $800,000 per day.
TradeWinds understands it will be delivered to its new owners when the charter expires in September.
Managers at Manta did not respond to a request for comment.
The Manta Salacak is the oldest among the three LPG carriers officially listed in the Turkish company’s diversified fleet.
In November, TradeWinds reported Manta acquired a much younger gas carrier — the 38,100-cbm Seaspeed (built 2017) — from Greece’s Thenamaris for $55.7m, according to London shipbrokers.
Like the Manta Salacak, the Seaspeed is a fully refrigerated ship that can carry ammonia. However, its sale to Manta has yet to be confirmed and the vessel is still listed on Thenamaris’ fleet list.
