Brokers have reported that M Sea Capital has disposed of its two aframax tankers as it focuses on the MR product carrier sector.
But the Modi Mano-led shipowner has denied reports of the sale.
US brokers claimed that the company sold the 114,900-dwt Sunny Atlantica for $15.5m and sistership Antarctica for $16.25m. Brokers said FGAS Petrol Co of Vietnam is the buyer.
Mano said the 2006-built ships have not been sold and instead have been fixed out on time charter, with one going to Litasco and another to Vitol.
Of FGAS, the managing director said: “I don’t know these guys.”
FGAS did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
The ice-class 1A vessels were built at South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries. The Antarctica is due for special survey in May, while the Sunny Atlantica must complete its dry-docking by January.
M Sea, formed in 2012 and based in Jersey in the Channel Islands, has been expanding its presence in the tanker segment.
In 2015, it purchased the two aframaxes from Premuda for $28m each, with five-year bareboat charters to Minerva Marine of Greece at $11,500 per day.
The price the tankers have fetched in their recent sale is in line with expectations.
In January, M Sea purchased the 37,800-dwt tankers Mount Kibo and Mount Everest (both built 2010) from Germany's Hartmann Group, paying $14.7m each.
Between 2016 and 2019, the company bought five MR tankers.
