Aeolos Management, a company linked to Greece’s Embiricos family, is believed to have acquired its second VLCC in two months.

Both ships have comparable characteristics and the price levels they achieved point to the surprising resistance that tanker values continue to display in the face of stubbornly sluggish earnings.

The first purchase emerged recently after authorities registered Aeolos as the new manager of a ship to which the company had not previously been linked.

The 318,000-dwt E Mei San (built 2010) officially switched ownership last month and is now trading with Aeolos under its new name, Kalamos.

This is one several ships formerly in the fleet of debt-laden oil trader Hin Leong Trading and its affiliated outfits Xihe Group and Ocean Tankers.

Brokers reported the E Mei San as sold to unidentified Far Eastern or Greek interests, which prevailed in an auction in late September when the ship fetched close to $37m.

Aeolos and its London affiliate Andros Maritime Agencies so far have been linked to Greece’s traditional shipowning Embiricos clan — particularly to Philip Embiricos, a former Bimco president who died last month at the age of 78.

Aeolos is now reportedly swooping on another Chinese-built vessel of the same age.

Brokers in London and the US report the company as behind a $38.5m purchase of the 297,600-dwt VLCC New Coral (built 2010).

The price is considerably above the $35.2m and $35.4m that VesselsValue and Signal Ocean estimate the ship is worth, respectively. Only MSI Horizon puts its average value for the ongoing quarter in a higher range of between $37.2m and $42.9m.

Managers at low-profile Aeolos did not respond to a request for comment.

Not coy about being in sale mode

The ship’s current owner China VLCC — a company with a sizeable fleet of about 50 VLCCs — has not made a secret of its desire to offload some of its oldest vessels with inferior fuel efficiency while awaiting delivery of a newbuilding sextet.

The company is understood to have been seeking buyers for the New Coral for months.

Sales efforts were quicker in the case of the 297,300-dwt New Creation (built 2009), which China VLCC offloaded in April to Greece’s Thenamaris for about $37.5m, as TradeWinds reported.

A little later in the year, China VLCC probably offloaded the 299,000-dwt New Century (built 2009) as well. Unidentified Chinese peers are believed to have spent $30m or $31m on the ship, which has been recently trading as the Lucky Century.

If Aeolos indeed purchased the New Coral, market observers should take notice. The Embiricos family is known for shrewd market moves across all ship types that often result in sizeable asset plays.

Aeolos, which is currently listed with six VLCCs, has been conducting some fleet renewal of its own.

Just shortly before pouncing on the E Mei San, the company sold its oldest VLCC, the 305,900-dwt Kos (built 2001), for between $26m and $27m.

In line with a general trend that sees a large number of tankers of around that age going to little-known players, the Kos has since emerged under the Cameroon flag and a new name, Uzor, with Russia-based Nordic Technical Managers.