In line with recent statements by its leadership, Beks Ship Management & Trading has continued its buying spree amid improving tanker markets with the purchase of a 19-year-old MR.
In an interview with TradeWinds last month, company owner Ali Bekmezci said he intended to buy three to four more ships this year, mostly tankers.
He seems to have lived up to his word quickly, agreeing — according to ship management sources in Istanbul — to purchase the 40,000-dwt Seaexplorer (built 2003) from Greece’s Thenamaris for about $9m.
The deal confirms the robust demand for MR tankers on the back of “exceptionally high earnings”, as brokers at Athens-based WeberSeas said in their latest report on 15 April.
Turkish buyers have been particularly active, local brokers told TradeWinds in an interview last month.
Beks, previously a pure-play dry bulk player, began investing in secondhand tankers last year and has already assembled a fleet of five aframaxes and three MR product tankers built between 2003 and 2009.
Even though the value of the tankers and bulkers purchased by the company since 2020 has risen considerably, the Turkish owner does not consider selling any of his ships just yet.
Employing his tankers on short to medium-term deals appears to be just too profitable. Late last month, brokers reported Trafigura fixing the 105,000-dwt Beks Indiana (built 2007) — the first tanker Bekmezci bought — for six months at $30,750 per day.
Selling old, ordering new
Thenamaris becomes the third Greek company to sell a tanker to Beks, after Minerva Marine and Almi Tankers.
Athens-based Thenamaris, a shipping giant with about 100 vessels, has been steadily renewing its tanker fleet.
The sale of the Hyundai Mipo-built Seaexplorer comes just a few weeks after the sale of the identical sistership Seacrown I to Transgas, a Peruvian company that is currently trading the ship as Atacama.
The Seacrown I deal was reported in early June for about $8.5m, about 6% below the $9m price tag currently attributed to the sistership Seaexplorer.
The pair was among Thenamaris’ four oldest tankers. Their sale now leaves the company with just two units of a similar age, the 37,200-dwt Seamercury (built 2003) and 39,400-dwt Seamerit (built 2002).
As it shakes off its oldest ships, Thenamaris has taken delivery of tanker newbuildings and placed orders for further tonnage.
In June, the Greek company took delivery from Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding of the 50,000-dwt MR Seapromise (built 2022). Thenamaris went on to order a pair of 115,000-dwt LR2 tankers at the same yard, for about $62.5m each and due for delivery in 2025.
