Chinese buyers appear to have won the bidding war for a Japanese-owned VLCC.
The unspecified buyers were said to have purchased the 311,110-dwt Taiga (built 2007) from Meiji Shipping for between $44m and $45m, according to broker reports.
One British broker said the ship was being circulated for sale last week for between $41m and $42m, with Chinese and Greek buyers in pursuit.
But a deal looks to have been concluded for a much higher price, with rumblings in the market putting the value first at $43.5m and then closer to $45m.
The vessel’s registered owner, Panama-registered Esteem Maritime, lists Meiji Shipping’s Tokyo offices as its forwarding address and the outfit’s MMS Co is listed as the technical manager.
NYK Line is listed as the commercial controller.
A representative from MMS declined to comment on the deal.
The Taiga has spent its whole life in the fleet of Meiji Shipping, according to shipping databases.
The $45m sale price is close to VesselsValue’s $44.9m estimation but on the lower end of MSI Horizon’s $44.5m to $52.4m range.
Brokers compared the sale to its sister vessel, the 311,110-dwt Phoebe (built 2005), which was sold for $40m in May.
That ship ended up in the hands of Fractal Marine, the Dubai-based affiliate of Fractal Shipping, which had been sanctioned in the UK for alleged dealings with the Russian government.
Other comparable recent deals include the 305,700-dwt Gesi (built 2007), sold for $43.3m to a Marshall Islands-registered buyer, and Bahri moving on from the 303,100-dwt Safwa (built 2002) — the oldest VLCC in its fleet — for $31.7m.
