A surge in secondhand transactions for ice-strengthened tankers shows little sign of abating, with yet another batch of deals reported by brokers this week.
One example offered by a pair of Union Maritime vessels is characteristic of the premium vessels with that capacity can fetch.
The London-based company is widely reported to have sold the 113,800-dwt Alba and 114,800-dwt Piper (both built 2005).
Both ships were built at the same time at Samsung Heavy Industries and are equipped with a scrubber and a ballast water treatment system (BWTS).
The key difference is that the Alba is an ice-class ship, while the Piper is not. That difference alone seems to have earned the Alba a premium of between $2m and $3m.
Why the sudden interest?
Unidentified Middle Eastern interests have reportedly agreed to pay between $31.8m and $33m for the Alba. The Piper, by contrast, is said to be changing hands for between $29m and $30m.
Managers at Union Maritime did not respond to a request for comment.
Analysts have been highlighting for months the popularity of ice-class tankers this year, particularly aframaxes and MRs.
According to data from Xclusiv Shipbrokers in Athens, 77 ice-class tankers have changed hands so far this year, nearly twice the number transacted over all of 2021 and more than three times the 2020 total.
The most ready explanation for the sudden interest in such ships is the considerable increase in spot market earnings in specific trading regions, foremost in Russia.
Gibson Shipbrokers has already identified increased enquiry from Middle Eastern, Russian and Asian buyers looking to build a fleet of older tankers to carry Russian crude, which is not sanctioned outside the West.
That interest has sparked a considerable increase in prices.
Nowhere is this surge in values demonstrated more starkly than in a deal this week that saw Turkey’s Beks Ship Management & Trading offloading the 114,900-dwt Beks Atlantica (built 2006) — another ice-class aframax built at Samsung Heavy Industries, equipped with a BWTS but without a scrubber.
According to brokers, the ship changed hands at a price between $32.5m and $33m.
A deal concluded at these levels represents a stunning asset play for Beks.
The company’s gutsy owners started investing in tankers last year when the market was in the doldrums. The Beks Atlantica was one of the first vessels they bought for just $15m.
Owner Ali Bekmezci told TradeWinds in an interview in June that Beks would eventually sell some of those tankers to cash in on their appreciating values, “but not this year”.
With the speed at which tanker prices have been climbing since then, Bekmezci probably changed his mind to sell a little faster.
As for Union Maritime, the purported seller of the Alba and Piper, it is firmly in tanker divestment mode.
The Laurent Cadji-led company has been confirmed or reported selling seven other tankers this year, for total estimated proceeds of nearly $150m.
Another company benefiting from higher values to sell one of its oldest tankers is Chandris (Hellas), which reportedly divested the 40,200-dwt Astrea (built 2006) for about $15.5m.
