Eastern Mediterranean Maritime (Eastmed) has concluded a third VLCC sale within a few weeks.
Managers confirmed that the Hyundai Heavy Industries-built, 308,500-dwt Marina M (built 2000) has been sold and delivered to new owners.
Market sources told TradeWinds that the Marina M has gone to a Middle Eastern trading buyer for $32m. VesselsValue already lists the ship under a new name — Lerax — and vessel trackers locate it as ballasting off Karachi.
Thanassis Martinos-led Eastmed bought the vessel as Else Maersk for a full $122m in 2007 — in the middle of a shipping boom.
The Athens-based company has sold two other VLCCs in the same age range, as TradeWinds reported last month.
The 298,700-dwt Lucky Trader (built 2000) fetched $30m, before it was renamed Zin Trader, while The 300,000-dwt Grand Lady (built 2002) was sold for $34m. It has been renamed Giessel.
At least one of them — the Lucky Trader — went to Iraq’s Qaiwan Group, which owns energy trading firm Onex and shipowning arm PentaContinent DMCC.
Meanwhile, another Greek player is preparing to offload a much younger VLCC.
Several brokers and shipping sources in London and Athens said the 320,000-dwt Hra (built 2011) has been circulated for sale.
Choppy S&P market
The ship traded for several years as Orthis in the fleet of Ghassan Ghandour company Gulf Marine Management. George Economou’s DryShips then bought it in February 2017, reportedly for $57m, and renamed it Shiraga.
In late 2019, the DSME-built ship was renamed Hra as it passed under the management of Vanda Marine Corp — a newly registered company in Athens, which has no other ships to its name.
Vessel trackers show the Hra to have called at Venezuela and West Africa at the time. According to Equasis, it has since been trading in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and East Asia. Brokers say the Hra is presently en route to Qingdao, China, and will then head to Tianjin.
The Hra may be facing a choppy sale-and-purchase market, swamped with a supply of vessels after nearly $1.17bn-worth of tankers and newbuildings linked to crisis-hit Ocean Tankers emerged as sales candidates, including some VLCCs.
Failed deals
The secondhand market for tankers is already volatile. Several deals previously believed to have been concluded ultimately failed, London brokers said last week, as buyers got cold feet among falling freight markets and values.
According to Gibson, the 311,200-dwt Sino Macro (built 1999), which was committed last November, is said to be back in the market as a sales candidate, as is AET Tankers’ 300,400-dwt Bunga Kasturi Tiga (built 2006).
Recent market talk that Aeolos Management has sold the 281,000-dwt Kalamos (built 2000) is believed to have been incorrect.
The list of failed or misreported deals extends to suezmaxes, where some brokers reported that Greece’s Capital Maritime had committed to two Ridgebury suezmaxes — the 164,600-dwt Ridgebury Alina L (built 2001) and 150,000-dwt Ridgebury Astari (built 2002).
A sale of the 159,400-dwt SKS Sinni (built 2003) is also said to have hit the rocks. Greece’s Salmar Shipping, which was rumoured to have been the buyer, has already denied any involvement, as TradeWinds reported.
A Greek owner who recently inspected a VLCC for purchase told TradeWinds he "reconsidered" buying the ship, given the falling freight rates.
“If we move, it’ll be definitely at lower price levels — we’ll look again at how things stand at about the end of July,” he said.
