About 20 bidders came forward to vie for a product tanker that went under the hammer in Malta last week, shrugging off a vow by its previous owner to keep fighting for his vessel in court.
The top bid for the 40,200-dwt MR Dominia (built 2009) came in at €23m ($24.3m), according to a source familiar with the matter.
It was submitted by a Marshall Islands-based company, which the source and brokers are linking to the Vafias shipping group of Greece.
An executive with Vafias did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Greek player has a record of picking up vessels sold at auctions or as part of bankruptcy-induced fleet wind-downs.
Last year, a Vafias company emerged victorious in a Gibraltar auction for the 32,200-dwt Zeus IV (renamed Eco Angelbay, built 2009).
In 2021, the group bought two MR ships in Asia from the bankrupt fleet of Ocean Tankers: the 50,400-dwt Ocean Cosmos (renamed Clean Nirvana, built 2008) and 50,300-dwt Ocean Mars (renamed Clean Imperial, built 2007).
The interest attracted by the Dominia in Malta shows that the tanker market remains attractive enough for bidders to disregard any risk of legal trouble down the road.
Before the auction, the ship’s previous owner, Morfini SpA, tried to discourage potential buyers by warning that they would be “exposed to … compensatory action”.
The Italian company argues that Malta had no right to arrest its ship and put it up for auction. Morfini cites a previous decision issued by an Italian court in its home town of Bari, which imposed a ban on judicial proceedings by creditors.
The ship was sold in Malta on behalf of Nassau Maritime Holdings, an Ireland-based company known to have bought shipping loans from Germany’s HSH Nordbank.
Notwithstanding its legal claims, which it will uphold, Morfini is expected to cooperate with Maltese authorities in the handover of the vessel, TradeWinds is told.
