Greece's Pantheon Tankers has achieved a surprisingly firm price for one of its oldest aframaxes, highlighting a slow but persistent trickle of buying amid tanker freight markets that are still unfavourable to owners.

According to ship-management sources in Athens, the 159,100-dwt suezmax Astro Perseus (built 2004) has been sold to Middle Eastern interests for around $18.5m.

The deal has already been concluded and the Hyundai Heavy Industries-built vessel will be delivered promptly to its new owners.

The price seems high, as the Astro Perseus is due to undergo a periodic dry-docking over the next couple of months.

It also far exceeds the ship's estimated value both as a demolition candidate and for further trading.

The Astro Perseus would likely fetch around $15m if sold for scrap. According to snapshot valuations by VesselsValue and Signal Ocean's data platform, it is worth between $17m and $17.2m on the secondhand market.

MSI Horizon, which calculates indicative fair market assessments valid during the current quarter, suggests the ship is worth between $17.3m and $20.3m.

The latter valuation could reflect an anticipated recovery in tanker freight rates, which encourages some owners to go out, buy ships and supports values, despite current lacklustre earnings.

In another example, Sovcomflot is believed to have received $16m last month for the 159,300-dwt SCF Ural (built 2002).

The price appreciation that comes with such expectations can only be welcome to Pantheon, which is known to be shaking out older crude carrier tonnage as it takes delivery of newbuildings.

In July, the Anna Angelicoussis-led firm sold the 105,200-dwt Astro Saturn (built 2003) for around $12.5m. Since then, Pantheon has taken delivery of two aframax newbuildings from Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS). The company has another four suezmaxes due for delivery next year — two each at New Times Shipbuilding and Samsung Heavy Industries.

Antonis gone?

Buyers are probably swooping on much younger aframaxes as well. US brokers report that Greece's Enesel has agreed to part with the 113,600-dwt Antonis (built 2017) for about $45m. Its buyers are believed to be Turkish.

Managers at Enesel were not available for comment.

However, a sale may have been on the cards for quite some time. In May, Athens-based brokers reported the Daehan Shipbuilding-built vessel as circulating for eventual sale. VesselsValue estimated the ship was worth merely around $39m at the time.

Despite its young age, the Antonis is one of the two oldest vessels in Enesel's tanker fleet, which currently consists of 15 crude and product tankers between aframax and VLCC size, built in South Korea between 2017 and 2021.

The company also has another five LR2 tankers under construction at SWS and Daehan, to be delivered in 2023 and 2024.