Hot on the heels of the lucrative sale of a 12-year-old aframax this month, Eastern Mediterranean Maritime (Eastmed) revealed that it has offloaded one of its oldest tankers.
A manager at the Thanassis Martinos-led company confirmed broker reports earlier this week that it had agreed to sell the scrubber-fitted 308,900-dwt VLCC Birdie (built 2005) for $52.5m.
No indication of the buyer or the precise timing of the sale was disclosed.
The S&P Global Market data platform shows that the Birdie has already been renamed Yannis.
This means either the sale is recent and the vessel delivered promptly, or the deal is actually a bit older and has become visible only now that it has changed hands.
An older sale would chime with information on VesselsValue, which says the sale was agreed on at the end of November.
The $52.5m price is at the same level at which another scrubber-fitted, South Korean-built VLCC was reported sold late last year — Maran Tankers’ 320,800-dwt Maran Aquarius (built 2005).
Intriguingly, both vessels seem to have been picked up by the same interests.
S&P Global lists them in the managed fleet of Max Maritime Solutions FZE, an entity set up last year in the United Arab Emirates.
The Maran Aquarius joined under the name Leonor.
Max Maritime Solutions is also listed with a third VLCC. The 310,400-dwt Annick (built 2004) is a Japanese-built vessel that used to trade as Kioni with Greece’s Monte Nero Management and that changed hands last July at a price of just about $30m.
The moves by Max Maritime Solutions are in line with a well-established pattern of Asian-based interests picking up dozens of older tankers since the war in Ukraine broke out early last year.
VLCCs are not directly involved in lifting oil from Russian ports but can be used to carry it after ship-to-ship transfers.
Older VLCCs are also often used to store oil by traders who expect its price will rise in the future.
Intense buying interest has led to soaring tanker valuations in recent months, allowing major Western owners in Greece, the US and Norway to offload ships profitably.
Sales candidates
It remains to be seen if Eastmed, which is known to have sold only two tankers during this period, will use the opportunity to sell more.
Two potential sales candidates could be two sister ships of the Birdie, which Eastmed took delivery of from Samsung Heavy Industries in 2005 and has kept trading in its fleet ever since — the 308,800-dwt Adventure and 308,900-dwt Great Lady (both built 2005).
The sale of the Birdie reduces Eastmed's VLCC fleet to four vessels.
The company is a major shipowner with an active fleet of 28 tankers, 41 bulkers, 10 container ships and a pair of LR2 newbuildings under construction in South Korea.
It has been the biggest exporter of Ukrainian foodstuffs under the United Nations-led Black Sea Grain Initiative that began on 1 August.
