New information has shed further light on the identity of the companies that bought 11 mid-aged MR2 product carriers from Scorpio Tankers so far this year.
Scorpio has not disclosed its counterparties in the string of sale-and-purchase deals that raised the US-listed company’s vessel sales to $416m in total.
TradeWinds has since revealed South Korea’s KSS Line, Gulf Energy Maritime from the United Arab Emirates, Aerio Shipmanagement from Greece and Great Eastern Shipping from India as buyers of seven of these vessels.
Now the next two beneficiaries of Scorpio’s sale binge are emerging: Mercan Holding’s MRC Denizcilik from Turkey and — according to one shipping data bank — Dubai-based Souillac Industries.
MRC Denizcilik has already confirmed being the buyer of the 50,000-dwt STI Onyx (built 2012).
The Hyundai Heavy Industries-built ship is now featured on the company’s website under its new name, MRC Liva.
The $35.6m purchase is in line with the Istanbul-based MRC Denizcilik’s recent strategy to expand in the MR sector.
Set up in 2002, MRC Denizcilik used to be a pure-play owner of small chemical tankers — six of which are still in its fleet.
Two years ago, principals Alpsel and Tansel Mercan embarked on a campaign to expand their MR2 footprint with the purchase of four similar ships built in South Korea.
In its debut move in 2022, MRC Denizcilik swooped on a pair sold by Saudi Arabia’s Bahri for about $35m in total.
The 46,000-dwt NCC Sudair and NRC Rabigh (renamed MRC Beliz and MRC Sedef, respectively, both built 2007) were the vessels involved.
The following year, the Mercans followed up with a deal worth about $25m for Norden’s scrubber-fitted, 51,300-dwt Nord Stingray (renamed MRC Nazende, built 2009).
The secondhand value of all these MRs has climbed considerably since MRC Denizcilik acquired them.
According to brokers, two of them were fixed on one-year charters with commodity trader Trafigura and Mexico’s state-run PMI Comercio Internacional.
Souillac who..?
Things are less clear with the company that agreed in June to spend about $36.5m on Scorpio’s 50,000-dwt STI Topaz (built 2012).
The S&P Global database shows the ship trading since August under its new name of Vesta with SS Vesta Shipping Co — a non-descript, one-ship company based in the Marshall Islands that has entrusted its technical management to V.Ships Asia.
VesselsValue identifies the ship’s buyer as Souillac Industries — an entity in the UAE.
Souillac managers did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
The company describes itself on its website as a “leading investor in various asset classes globally for more than two decades”.
Souillac mentions real estate and financial markets as its established areas of activity but also describes itself as “fairly new investors in the shipping industry”.
The firm does not elaborate on what its maritime assets are.
The buyers of the two scrubber-fitted vessels that Scorpio announced selling most recently, on 3 September, are still unknown.
The pair in question are the 50,000-dwt STI San Antonio and STI Texas City (both built 2014), which fetched $42.5m each.
