Dynacom Tankers Management, a Procopiou family-controlled owner with a giant orderbook of about 40 newbuildings, may be selling its oldest VLCC.
According to market talk in Greece and the UK, the Athens-based company has obtained a price of more than $40m for the 300,400-dwt Sake (built 2005).
The Sake is not equipped with a scrubber and its next special survey is due towards the end of 2025.
Dynacom managers declined to comment on the information.
If confirmed, the deal would fetch a nice profit for the company, which has traded the vessel for four straight years after buying it from NYK Line at a nominally lower price of about $37.5m.
A price tag of more than $40m exceeds the $39.5m that VesselsValue calculates the IHI-built Sake is currently worth.
According to analysts at Xclusiv Shipbrokers, a sale at this price level would be in line with a last-done deal recorded last month for a Japanese-built VLCC of about the same age as the Sake.
The 300,000-dwt PNS Serena (built 2006) changed hands for about $42m with a special survey due.
This provides further evidence of stable prices for older VLCCs, which have remained broadly unchanged since February, according to the Athens brokerage.
The stable price environment has encouraged other Greek owners to offload VLCCs in recent weeks.
TradeWinds reported last month about Evangelos Marinakis landing a $1bn deal to sell nine VLCCs to Saudi company Bahri.
Last week, Greek peer Athenian Sea Carriers reportedly offloaded its last VLCC, an 11-year-old unit, for $80m, to Norwegian buyers.
Giant newbuilding plan
According to Clarksons’ data, Dynacom Tankers has 17 VLCCs in its overall fleet of 65 crude and product carriers on the water.
Unless the company culls some of its oldest ships, its fleet will swell to exceed the 100-ship mark over the next few years, given its giant orderbook.
Procopiou is sitting on more than 40 conventionally fuelled tanker newbuildings at various Chinese yards, with a total estimated contract value of approximately $3.2bn.
These vessels, which include panamax tankers, LR2s, suezmaxes and VLCCs, are scheduled for delivery between 2025 and 2028.
They are part of an even wider newbuilding programme under which Procopiou companies also ordered 32 bulkers in China and nine LNG carriers in South Korea.
A sale of the Sake may signal an acceleration of older tanker sales by Dynacom as part of its fleet renewal process.
TradeWinds data shows the company divested one suezmax and one VLCC last year, which were both of about the same age as the Sake.
The company followed up in early 2024 with the sale of the relatively younger 150,000-dwt suezmax Demetrios (renamed Grace Noel, built 2011).
If the Sake is indeed sold, Dynacom’s two oldest VLCCs on the water would be the 300,000-dwt Eliza and the 318,300-dwt Ioanna (both built 2008).
