A Greek shipping outfit set up about 10 years ago to invest in distressed bulk carriers and container ships, is now upping its interest in tankers.
Aims Shipping bought its first tanker in the summer of last year, in the belief that product carriers would eventually catch up in the recovery evident in bulkers and boxships.
The company's managers are still of the same view today — and to prove the point, they have agreed to purchase a second such vessel.
“We continue to believe that the tanker market is still lagging the other [shipping] sectors in the recovery cycle,” Nicki Zografini of Aims Shipping told TradeWinds.
The deal Zografini confirmed concerns the 46,800-dwt Energy Panther (built 2008), which Aims’ clients acquired from Restis family company Enterprises Shipping & Trading (EST).
Aims declined to comment on pricing. Several ship management and broking sources in Athens say the South Korean-built vessel changed hands for between $15.5m and $16m.
Aims manages its seven bulkers itself but entrusts its tankers to third-party managers.
The 48,000-dwt Janine K (built 2009), the first MR it bought, is managed by Petros Pappas-led Product Shipping & Trading.
Aims Shipping was established in 2011 by Stefanos Pesmazoglou, Michael Stasinopoulos and former employees of Martinos family company Eastern Mediterranean Maritime.
The amounts the company has spent on its two tankers seem modest compared with the funds it raised in another two recent deals that are characteristic of its shift in strategy.
In February the company offloaded its sole container ship, the 23-year-old, 1,708-teu Smiley Lady (built 1999) for a juicy $20m to Mount Street Capital, a London-based investment manager building a container ship portfolio.
The Smiley Lady was one of Aims Shipping’s first investments. The company bought it in late 2012 for just about $5.5m, according to VesselsValue.
IHS shows the vessel already trading under its new name of Big Lilly with Israeli liner Zim, which reportedly fixed it for three years in March at $35,000 per day.
Aims has been cashing out of bulkers as well, with the sale in June of the 51,200-dwt supramax Seven Lady (built 2009), reportedly for $22.5m.
This was a remarkable asset play as well, considering that Aims bought the vessel for just about $12.5m in late 2017. The new manager of the Seven Lady is Third January Maritime, a little-known, Piraeus-based entity that has renamed the ship True Friendship as part of an ongoing fleet renewal.
Breaking the hiatus
Aims' tanker bet is in line with a general trend towards such ships.
“On the sale and purchase front there is robust demand for MR tankers on the back of the exceptionally high earnings,” brokers at WeberSeas said in their latest report.
“Both clean and dirty values have increased considerably the last month as there is a strong sentiment that is currently prevailing in the market,” WeberSeas added.
Several companies have been entering the sector, like Aims, or becoming active buyers in it again after a long hiatus, such as Greece's Sea Hawk Maritime, Westport Tankers and Turkey's Besiktas Group.
Another Greek company on that path is Karamanlis family-affiliated Mantinia Shipping.
Mantinia emerged this month as the new manager of the 38,300-dwt tanker Nord Swan (renamed Vorias, built 2009) — a vessel sold in early March by Norden to unknown Greek buyers for about $10m.
Another rare Greek buyer is Smart Tankers, which reportedly spent $20.6m on WH Marine’s 24,200-dwt Pangniu (renamed Savanna, built 2017).
Meanwhile, low-profile Grace Management is the party behind a deal of about $17.5m for yet another Restis tanker, the 75,000-dwt Energy Centurion (built 2008).
IHS Markit shows the vessel under the management of the Piraeus-based company as Avra Patros.
Restis’ sales of the Energy Centurion and Energy Panther are understood to be part of a fleet renewal, as the company has been taking delivery of a string of tanker newbuildings and some of its investors wish to cash out of existing, older ships.
EST owns another five LR and MR vessels built between 2004 and 2008.
