Greece’s Athenian Sea Carriers is said to have sold its oldest VLCC to Greek peer Altomare, for whom the 12-year-old vessel would be its youngest ship.
Ship management sources in Athens linked Altomare to a $42m deal for the 317,400-dwt Athenian Harmony (built 2010).
Managers at both Athenian Sea Carriers and Altomare did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Athenian Harmony is known to have been circulating for sale since at least late November, alongside sistership Athenian Success.
A sale of the tanker wouldn’t be the first such deal by Athenian Sea Carriers recently.
The Kyriakou family company offloaded the slightly older 317,400-dwt Athenian Victory (built 2009) earlier this year, at a similar price of about $42m.
The Athenian Victory went to Greek peer Eurotankers, which has been trading the vessel since as Eurovictory.
In another deal in early 2021, Athenian Sea Carriers sold to Capital Maritime & Trading a pair of 300,000-dwt VLCC newbuildings under construction at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.
That transaction left Athenian Sea Carriers and its parent company Athenian Holdings with two sistership newbuildings at the same yard. Speculation that the company is lining up a resale deal for these vessels as well has been swirling in the market for months.
Rumours flared up again in recent days, when Athens brokers identified two traditional Greek VLCC owners as possible buyers. Market sources, however, said that none of them is even in talks to buy the newbuildings, which are said to have been offered for a net $95m apiece.
The secondhand market for VLCCs has gone very quiet lately amid renewed pandemic concerns caused by the Omicron mutation of the coronavirus.
In the rare deals reported recently, Greece’s Aeolos Management is said to have spent $38.5m on the 297,600-dwt New Coral (built 2010) while an unknown Chinese company swooped on Mitsui OSK Lines’ 306,400-dwt Asian Progress III (built 2004) for $27.2m.
