Ind-Aust Maritime has emerged as the buyer of a Torm MR product tanker.
Sources at the Indian shipowner confirmed to TradeWinds this week that it had purchased the 45,500-dwt Torm Gunhild (built 1999).
Torm said last week that it had lined up a deal to sell the ship for $6m ahead of taking delivery of four 2011-built MR tankers it had purchased for $83m.
The Torm Gunhild is set to join Ind-Aust’s fleet of three product tankers under its shipowning subsidiary, Castle Ships. Two of these are MRs, the third is a small coastal product tanker. In addition, the company owns and operates a ropax ferry.
It was last active on the sale-and-purchase markets in June 2018, buying the 45,700-dwt product tanker Iver Exporter (built 2000) from Iver Ships for a reported $7.5m. It was renamed Hari Leela upon delivery.
Nava Mumbai-based Ind-Aust is a niche market player focused on the Indian domestic trades. Its shipping activities centre mainly on delivering refined petroleum products to India’s remote Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Although the archipelago has a small population of 380,000 people scattered over several inhabited islands, demand for fuel is strong, as most of the electricity is supplied by diesel-powered generators.
Ind-Aust’s 4,800-gt ferry Coral Queen (built 1996) operates services within the archipelago.
