Great Eastern Shipping has snapped up an MR2 tanker from South Korea’s Pan Ocean as it expands its fleet.
India’s biggest private shipowner said it had agreed a deal to acquire a 46,197-dwt ship built in 2008.
It will join the fleet in the third quarter.
The only ship corresponding to these details is the Grand Ace 8.
Brokers put the purchase price at $23.8m, against a VesselsValue assessment of $21.6m, up from $19.75m a year ago.
The Great Eastern fleet will increase to 43 ships after delivery, including 29 tankers.
“The company’s current capacity utilisation is close to 100%,” the Mumbai-listed owner said.
“The proposed ship will be financed entirely from internal accruals. The purpose of the acquisition is expansion of the fleet.”
The Grand Ace 8 has passed its special survey.
Pan Ocean has sold eight other ships in 2023: four small clean tankers, two handysize bulkers, a supramax bulker and a panamax dry cargo carrier. It retains 112 other vessels.
The tanker fleet stands at 20 ships, including two VLCCs.
Nine MRs in the Grand Ace series remain — all built between 2006 and 2008.
Pan Ocean renewed the fleet in 2021 with four bigger Grand Winner ships of 50,000 dwt.
Great Eastern’s tanker stable includes suezmaxes, aframaxes, LR1s and LR2s. Of the 12 MR tankers, all but one date from 2008 or before.
The company created a new chief operating officer role this month. The group, which also owns bulkers, offshore support vessels and gas carriers, said that as “part of a change in organisation structure”, Captain Ankush Gupta is stepping up to the job from tanker head of operations.
“In this new role, he will bring together the operating functions to work with cohesion and synergy.”
