In a tanker market dominated by medium-size sales, one surprising deal has stood out for brokers so far in June.

US-listed DHT Holdings managed to secure a scarce secondhand capture of a modern VLCC at $94.5m.

The ship was built at Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2018, but was not named by the buyer.

Brokers have now said the ship is Greek owner Enesel’s 319,200-dwt scrubber-fitted Maria P Lemos.

VesselsValue has a valuation of nearly $104m on the ship, up from $89m a year ago.

The tanker was ordered for $83m in 2017.

Einar Straume, a sale-and-purchase broker at Cleaves in Norway, said: “The price is somewhat surprising as most pundits have a five-year-old VLCC at $100m or close thereto, even for non-scrubber vessels.

“So either there is more to this deal than meets the eye or it looks like an attractive pricing for the buyer.”

Delivery is set for the third quarter and the vessel is due for a survey in October.

The transaction involved the highest price paid in the sector since November.

Prices remain strong for older tankers

Older VLCCs continued to attract comparatively firmer levels, however.

Brokers reported the 320,500-dwt Yio (built 2005) sold by Greece’s Dynacom Tankers at $54m to an unnamed buyer.

It is due to be docked for a survey and ballast water treatment system installation in a few months.

The Yio, valued at close to $49m by VesselsValue, up from $33m a year ago, was acquired as Yugawasan from NS United of Japan in 2020 for $33.3m.