LR1 tankers captured much of the action in the secondhand market this week, with one confirmed transaction and two rumoured ones.
Starting with the first, Germany’s Harren Tankers grasped the opportunity offered by soaring values to offload the only tanker it had in this size.
Secondhand prices for 15-year-old LR1s have not been as high since 2009, when the 73,700-dwt Pataris (built 2009) was delivered.
The opportunity to sell the ship for $26m, as several brokers reported this week, must have been tempting for the Harren Group — considering the price at which the German group brought the vessel for about two years ago.
Bremen-based Harren spent just $13m or $14m to buy the Pataris in December 2021, just before the Ukraine war sent tanker markets soaring.
Its seller at the time was Nordic Shipholding — a company that was later liquidated and which traded the ship as the Nordic Anne.
US and Greece-based brokers are reporting that Harren is now flipping the ship to Trafigura.
A spokesperson for the commodity giant, which is trading and operating hundreds of vessels, declined to comment.
Harren’s sale does not mean that the company is seeking to reduce its exposure in tankers.
“Regardless of the sale of this vessel, we will remain active in the tanker segment and are currently in the process of acquiring further third-party tonnage,” a company spokesman told TradeWinds.
Harren Tankers is currently listing nine small clean tankers in its fleet, with capacities between 16,600 dwt and 17,000 dwt.
Also in the LR1 space, several brokers report that Greece’s Prime Marine Management added two more sales to its long string of tanker disposals at juicy prices.
The Athens-based player is said to have sold the ice-class 73,600-dwt sister ships Lake Trout and Brook Trout (both built 2007) to clients of United Arab Emirates-based Emarat Maritime for below $26m each.
However, TradeWinds understands that a deal for the vessels has not been concluded yet.
Dubai’s Emarat Maritime is an established owner of 11 tankers and bulkers.
TradeWinds reported early last year how the company ended a 15-year order hiatus, by inking four ultramax bulker newbuildings in China.
