Greece’s Evalend Shipping has secured a one-year charter for a newbuilding VLCC amid a pickup in charterers’ appetite for period tonnage.
The 300,000-dwt scrubber-fitted ship was fixed to Trafigura at $29,000 per day or more, market sources said.
One of the sources suggested that it is likely to carry refined products in its maiden voyage, in line with recent trends.
Evalend has an orderbook of two VLCCs under construction at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, both of which will be fitted with scrubbers when delivered in 2021.
Traditionally a bulker company, Evalend entered the VLCC segment in 2018 by acquiring the 309,500-dwt Najaf (ex-Meandros, built 2000) from Sun Enterprises for $19.7m.
The Kriton Lendoudis-led outfit now has four VLCCs in operation, three of which are on period charters, VesselsValue data shows.
In September, brokers reported that Trafigura took the 300,000-dwt Halcyon (built 2020) from Evalend Shipping at $40,000 per day on a six-month charter, which can be extended by another six months at $15,750 per day.
Return of charterers
With spot earnings showing signs of bottoming out, oil majors and traders have returned to the period charter market for tankers.
Clarksons Platou Securities estimated average spot VLCC earnings at $10,200 per day on Wednesday, up 1.1% over the past week.
In the period market, Occidental Petroleum recently fixed the scrubber-fitted 319,000-dwt Nissos Kythnos (built 2019) from Okeanis Eco Tankers for 11 months at $30,000 per day, TradeWinds reported.
ZhenHua Oil reportedly relet the 297,400-dwt Nave Quasar (built 2010) from Koch Industries for one year, and the deal can be extended by a further 12 months.
Brokers said both companies agreed to a profit-sharing agreement, which has a floor rate of $18,600 per day and a ceiling of $35,000.
Trafigura and Occidental Petroleum declined to comment on their fixtures. TradeWinds has approached ZhenHua and Koch for comment.
The reported rates in recent fixtures remain at weak levels. Spot and period markets are not expected to enjoy a sustainable recovery before the oil destocking process completes.
“Although global crude demand continues to strengthen, the pace has not been fast enough to quickly clear existing inventories,” investment bank Jefferies said in a note.
“Floating storage continues to unwind, releasing several tankers back into the transport market.
“We believe that tanker spot charter rates will remain under pressure during the fourth quarter of 2020 and into the first quarter of 2021, but we still expect a much improved rate environment next year relative to current rates.”
Harry Papachristou contributed to this article
