Two months after doubling his money on an MR tanker purchased three years ago, Greek owner Athanassios Kossidas has made an even bigger profit on the sale of a similar vessel.
According to multiple market sources, his Athens-based Aerio Shipmanagement clinched a $24m deal to divest the 47,400-dwt Fos Power (built 2007).
Kossidas acquired the ship in May 2021 for just $9.7m.
The asset play beats the one Kossidas pulled off in June when the former ship finance man sold the 46,000-dwt Fos Energy (renamed Start, built 2006) to China’s Seacon Shipping Group for about $20.5m.
He purchased the ship three years ago for $9.3m.
Both the Fos Power and Fos Energy represent part of Kossidas’ bet back in 2021 that tanker markets, which were in the doldrums, would eventually recover.
That bet has paid off. Kossidas is cashing in on the ships and reinvesting the profits in younger MR tonnage.
TradeWinds reported in June how Aerio emerged as the buyer of two MRs offloaded by US-listed Scorpio Tankers, plus a third acquired from Greek peer Sea Pioneer Shipping.
Aerio has now swooped on another Sea Pioneer tanker — the 50,100-dwt Tenacity (built 2014).
VesselsValue estimates the Guangzhou CSSC-built Tenacity to be worth about $37m.
TradeWinds understands the ship is changing hands at a higher price, as it will be delivered promptly to its new owners after undergoing a special survey.
The flurry of sale-and-purchase activity brings the size of the Aerio fleet to six product tankers. All of them are MRs except the 109,600-dwt LR2 Sea Senor (built 2006).
“I believe this market has legs,” the company’s founder Kossidas told TradeWinds in June, explaining that he expects the segment to continue benefiting from ongoing sanctions against Russia and friction in the Middle East.
Other Greek companies buying secondhand MR tankers lately include Spring Marine Management, which scooped up three such ships in February plus a panamax in April, as well as IMS SA and Interunity/Sokana, which picked up two MRs each.
