Hot on the heels of a hugely successful investment in five aframax newbuildings, Greece’s Atlas Maritime has returned to South Korea to strike deals that bring its total investment in shipping steel since 2020 to a dozen vessels worth more than $1bn.
In an interview in his Athens office, Atlas founder and chief executive Leon Patitsas confirmed an order at DH Shipbuilding for a quartet of 114,940-dwt dual-fuel LNG-ready, scrubber-fitted LR2 tankers.
As with the five aframaxes that preceded them, Atlas moved far ahead of the curve in contracting the newbuildings.
Market sources believe the Greek owner spent at least $64m on each of the latest-design vessels — ordered since last summer and due for delivery between October 2024 and April 2025.
Patitsas declined to comment on their price but left little doubt about the way he sees their value heading.
“They’re already in the money … if they were in the water today, they would be worth close to $80m,” he said.
The grandson of legendary Greek owner Leon Lemos has displayed ample skills in ordering newbuildings at the right time and then cashing in on them through resale deals or lucrative long-term charters.
As TradeWinds reported previously, Patitsas has already flipped — at a huge markup — four of the five aframaxes he ordered at DH Shipbuilding in late 2020, at a 20-year trough of the tanker market.
The fifth sistership in that series — the 115,600-dwt Freeport Star (built 2023) — has been recently tied to a one-year charter with oil major BP at $50,000 per day.
“When the market peaks, we have the discipline to sell,” Patitsas said.
“We’re not here just to keep assets forever and scrap them — we’re here to be opportunistic and take advantage of rising markets.”
That strategy, which saw the Greek company profitably offloading nine tankers and one bulker since 2019, has handsomely rewarded the Greek owner and employees in the company he founded 20 years ago.
Inspired by his grandfather, Patitsas has instituted a share participation scheme under which Atlas invites employees to own part of the company and its fleet.
This makes staff “dedicated, loyal and fully aligned with the company's vision,” Patitsas said.
An average return on equity of 120% on its 10 recent ship sales has won the Greek owner quite a few friends in the ship-finance community as well.
Jonathan Atkeson, managing director of Fortress Investment Group in an email, said: “Fortress has enjoyed an excellent partnership with Leon Patitsas and Atlas Maritime.”
The New York-based investment manager of $45.7bn-worth of assets has emerged as a co-investor in one of the tankers Atlas sold recently.
“Our investment with Atlas produced excellent returns as a result of the disciplined investment approach, expertise and hard work of the Atlas management team,” Atkeson said.
Sanguine partners
In another statement sent to TradeWinds, Australian lender Macquarie reveals that an Atlas vessel was its first ship-finance deal back in 2017. Macquarie has since helped finance several Atlas’ aframax newbuildings and will continue to fund the company’s expansion in the future.
“Over the years, we have enjoyed a very close relationship with Atlas and value them as a very professional, open and proactive client,” Macquarie head of shipping Marc Hari said.
“We are very pleased to have contributed to Atlas’ success story and we look forward to continuing to support Atlas’ growth plans across the tanker and car carrier segments.”
The car carriers refer to a trio of LNG dual-fuel ready, 7,000-ceu pure car/truck carrier newbuildings that Atlas ordered last year at China’s CIMC Raffles Offshore and which are due for delivery between September 2024 and March 2026.
Car carriers, into which Atlas has reinvested part of its tanker asset play profits, are a new business for the company that Patitsas founded 20 years ago.
Nevertheless, the organisation plans to manage its new assets in-house, just as it has done with all of its other ships.
Atlas's technical manager has over 10 years of experience in the field, having worked before for Ray Car Carriers and its technical manager Stamco Ship Management.
“We like the fundamentals of the sector and have already been approached to fix the car carriers on long-term contracts with reputable charterers,” Patitsas said.
