Consolidation in Greece’s salvage and towage market has received a boost after Vernicos Scafi, a growing Greek-Italian joint venture, absorbed smaller outfit Karapiperis.
Vernicos Scafi entered into an agreement to jointly acquire all of Karapiperis’s fleet of six vessels, market sources said.
According to a press statement it issued on Friday, Vernicos Scafi held on to four of these ships — three harbour tugs and one ASD Damen-built FiFi terminal tug.
Vernicos Scafi is understood to have flipped the remaining two Karapiperis vessels to third parties.
Vernicos Tugs and Italy’s Scafi Societa di Navigazione joined forces to create a new towage player in 2019. The company is headed by chief executive officer Dimitris Vernicos and vice president Paolo Visco.
A year later, the joint venture made its first expansion move with the purchase of the 4,000-bhp Sea Scropion (built 2008), which is estimated to have been worth around $1m at the time.
“Almost two years after we joined our forces with Scafi Group, and almost a year after our first investment of [the] Vernicos Scafi One, we are strengthening our position through the joint acquisition of Stavros Karapiperis Salvage and Towage Co — a traditional tug-owning company with significant history for more than fifty years in our industry,” Vernicos Scafi said in its press release.
“We remain confident that our new investment will retain Vernicos Scafi on the forefront of the tug industry the coming years,” it added.
The Vernicos family is also active in tankers through Ancora Investment Trust, which earlier this year acquired an MR newbuilding option dropped by an unidentified shipping company in Vietnam.
