Product tanker dealmaking did not rest in the run-up to Christmas, with several transactions being concluded on the secondhand market.
Chief among them is a $65m deal that saw Geneva-based Advantage Tankers swoop on a pair of LR1 ships belonging to Glencore subsidiary ST Shipping.
TradeWinds is told that the agreement for the 74,600-dwt Alpine Pioneer (built 2011) and the one-year older sistership Alpine Pembroke took place last week.
The Hyundai Mipo Dockyard-built ships are due to be delivered to their new owners in February.
The transaction fits an established pattern both for Advantage Tankers and ST Shipping.
Advantage Tankers, a diversified owner of oil carriers, has expressed an interest in establishing a presence in LR1s and has already taken steps in this direction.
Speaking to TradeWinds last week on the occasion of the company inking a pair of such newbuildings at K Shipbuilding, chief executive officer Tugrul Tokgoz said he considers LR1s a “good segment to invest in”, given the opening of new trade routes amid geopolitical shifts and the thin orderbook for such vessels.
Advantage Tankers first entered the LR1 arena in April, with a $153m purchase of three modern, scrubber-fitted ships from Nautical Bulk Holdings: the 75,100-dwt Advantage Portocervo (ex-Nautical Sarah, built 2019), the 75,100-dwt Advantage Padova (ex-Nautical Janine, built 2019) and the 75,300-dwt Advantage Portofino (ex-Nautical Deborah, built 2018).
While adding LR1s, Advantage Tankers moved out of smaller product tankers by selling the three ageing MR1s it had, as TradeWinds already reported.
All the secondhand moves described above bring Advantage Tankers’ active fleet to 24 tankers on the water — from dual-fuel and conventional VLCCs, to suezmaxes to aframaxes to LR1 product tankers.
On top of that, the company has a pair of LR1s under construction at K Shipbuilding, as well as five suezmax newbuildings in South Korea and Japan.
Glencore moving out of owning?
The Alpine Pioneer and Alpine Pembroke transaction is also in line with a string of tanker sales by ST Shipping.
As TradeWinds already reported, Glencore’s Singapore-based shipping unit sold a trio of similar vessels to Torm in January 2023 — the 74,600-dwt Alpine Plymouth, Alpine Pacifica, Alpine Pearl (all built 2011).
ST Shipping’s sale campaign may extend even further.
Brokers are separately reporting this week that the company has sold the scrubber-fitted, 105,300-dwt Alpine Aqualina (built 2011) as well — an LR2 vessel managed by Oceangold Tankers.
A sale of the Alpine Aqualina would leave ST Shipping without any owned ships, according to VesselsValue.
Asked to comment, a Glencore spokesperson said the company does not discuss “market rumours”.
CST on the sale path
Glencore is not the only owner selling out of older product tankers to benefit from their soaring prices.
Saudi Arabia’s Bahri has divested the 49,600-dwt Bahri Rose (built 2006), most probably as part of its ongoing fleet renewal.
The buyer is Hong Kong-based Krape Myrtle, which spent about $18m on the Daewoo-built ship in a deal that was probably concluded in early November.
In another, much more recent deal, US brokers report that Germany’s Chemikalien Seetransport (CST) is divesting the 72,400-dwt LR1s Chemtrans Moon and Chemtrans Sea (both built 2004).
Unidentified buyers are said to be spending $17m each on the sister ships built at China’s Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding.
CST managers were not immediately available by email or phone. The company, however, is known to have been on the selling side lately.
In November, CST divested a trio of ageing, ice-class MR1s for $54m in total.
The 37,700-dwt Chemtrans Leo, 37,600-dwt Chemtrans Mercury and 36,700-dwt Chemtrans Uranus (all built 2006) are currently trading as Marquise, Aston Marine and Coast Buster respectively — all under the technical management of India-based Rhine Marine Services.
In other recent MR deals, Turkey’s Besiktas Group spent $17.8m on International Andromeda’s 1B ice-class, 37,300-dwt Blue Trader (renamed Hazar, built 2005).
Besiktas has been a serial buyer of such vessels lately. As TradeWinds already reported, the Istanbul-based company has bought two of the three MRs sold by Advantage Tankers this year.
Another, as yet unidentified Turkish player, is said to have acquired Augustea Shipping’s 40,100-dwt Alicudi M (built 2004) for $14.5m.
