John Angelicoussis-fronted Maran Tankers is third with an $89m outlay, ahead of Golden Union and Navios Acquisition.

TradeWinds reported in its latest print issue last Friday that Greek owners had invested around $3.5bn in second hand ships during the first four months of 2014.

The US at $1.74bn and Norway at $1.11bn are the other countries to have broken the $1bn barrier in the first half, VesselsValue says.

GasLog fourth globally

GasLog’s heavy investment was enough to place it at number four in the global big-spending table, which was predictably topped by Euronav, of which Livanos is now chairman.

The Belgian owner made its only buy, a $980m move for the Maersk Tankers VLCC fleet, in the first week of 2014.

As TradeWinds’s quarterly magazine TW+ revealed a few weeks ago, that deal made Euronav the industry’s most profitable second hand investor over the past couple of years.

Peter Georgiopoulos, another owner to have bought a VLCC fleet this year, is second in the global spending league this year thanks to his $735m move for seven vessels from Scorpio Tankers.

The two high profile fleet deals in the calendar in the first half form part of a $3.2bn trade which has seen 52 VLCCs change hands. Last year only $891m was spent on 32 of the tankers.

A further $819m was paid out for 32 suezmaxes between the start of January and the end of June.

Teekay spin-off Tanker Investments Ltd (TIL) was third in the global standings with a $528m outlay according to VesselsValue, with BW Maritime fifth, behind GasLog, with $436m coming out of the bank and into steel.

For the latest news from Posidonia visit www.tradewindsnews.com/posidonia