The tanker sale-and-purchase market continues to be quiet, but rumours a VLCC could sell for $110m shows just how strong the market is, Fearnleys said.
The Norwegian shipbroking giant said in a recent note that an unnamed 2019-built VLCC was receiving interest “in the region of $110m levels”.
Should a deal come to fruition “that would recalibrate valuation models across the sector”, it said.
Deals in the second half of 2023 for newer-vintage VLCCs put valuations around $100m, according to statistics from VesselsValue.
The most recent deals recorded by the valuation service include nine ships ranging in age from four years to one sold by Euronav to Frontline. The sales were made as part of the multibillion-dollar blockbuster deal for 24 of the Belgian owner’s VLCCs.
Each of the nine is valued above $100m, with the 300,000-dwt Derius (built 2019) valued at $107m.
Prior to that transaction, the last deal in late August saw the 307,900-dwt Landbridge Glory and 308,400-dwt Landbridge Horizon (both built 2019) sold by Landbridge Holdings to CSSC Shipping for $102m each.
Market observers are expecting tanker values to continue to strengthen amid a minuscule orderbook driven by a lack of yard capacity and incoming environmental regulations making ordering fraught.
Both Fearnleys and Cleaves said smaller tankers continue to make up the bulk of the secondhand tanker S&P activity.
Fearnleys said older aframax valuations got a boost after the 115,000-dwt Aegean Myth (built 2006) was sold for $37.5m to Chinese buyers, while compatriot interest snagged the 19,000-dwt chemical tanker Albatross Trader (built 2015) for $29.3m.
Cleaves in its weekly note highlighted the sale of the 50,000-dwt product tankers Dee4 Ilex and Dee4 Mahogany (both built 2002) for $54m each to Libya’s General National Maritime Transport Company including a three-month subject.
The deal comes with “a nice premium… considering newbuilding prices are at least $5m to $6m lower”.
