Dragnis family company Oceangold Tankers has carried out a rare tanker sale as prices rise steadily, across the board, for oil and product carriers.
The Athens outfit has agreed to part ways with the 74,300-dwt LR1 Alpine Persefone (built 2008) for between $29m and $30m, according to several brokers and market sources.
The price far exceeds the $27.55m or $28m that VesselsValue and Signal Ocean estimate it is worth.
The deal provides further proof of the inexorable rise of secondhand tanker values amid the geopolitical wobbles of the past two years.
The upward price trend is confirmed by Clarksons data, according to which average reference prices for 15-year-old LR1s ticked up last week for the first time this year to reach their highest level since October 2008 — which is about the same time Sungdong Shipbuilding delivered the Alpine Persefone as a newbuilding.
Price increases, however, do nothing to discourage determined players with unerring buying interest for such vessels.
Spring Marine Management, the Greek company believed to be acquiring the Alpine Persefone, is a case in point.
The low-profile player did not hesitate to strike out for the ship even though its price is about $5m above what the same company paid last October to buy a comparable LR1, the 73,900-dwt TTC Vidyut (renamed Capoeira, built 2008).
Spring Marine or clients thereof have acquired three other product tankers on the secondhand market this year.
Earlier in April, the company emerged as the new manager of the 40,200-dwt MR tanker Leon Hermes (renamed Balos, built 2008) — a ship sold in February by Greek peer Leon Shipping & Trading for at least $23m.
Two MR sister ships that TradeWinds reported as sold in March by Schoeller Holdings for $44m in total are now part of the Spring Marine fleet as well — the 37,800-dwt Cape Corfu and Cape Camden (both built 2009).
They are now trading as the Polka and Twist, respectively.
Spring Marine’s recent buying campaign, which includes the 37,900-dwt MR Elivra (renamed Conga, built 2010), has boosted its managed tanker fleet to 27 ships.
