Naftomar Shipping & Trading, an Athens-based gas carrier firm that started rebuilding a tanker fleet two years ago, has emerged as the new owner of a product carrier recently sold by Zodiac.
TradeWinds already reported about the 74,500-dwt Fulham Road (built 2013) having been sold by Zodiac to unnamed Greek interests for $44.6m.
Several databases are now showing the vessel as part of the Naftomar fleet under its new name, Louloulight.
When the South Korean-built LR1 tanker was reported sold at the end of October, VesselsValue assessed it as worth $37m.
Signal Ocean, however, estimated its value at about $43.4m, which is much closer to the price at which it changed hands.
The Fulham Road is not equipped with a scrubber but passed special survey about a year ago, which means it will not have to do so again until the autumn of 2028.
Managers at Naftomar did not respond to a request for comment on the rationale for the acquisition.
It is natural, however, to assume that the purchase is part of the tanker expansion campaign the company started in late 2022, when it bought its first product carrier in three decades.
According to TradeWinds calculations, the company has spent about $175m since to accumulate a fleet of three LR1s, two MR1s and an MR2.
The Fulham Road is the youngest among them. Its five other tankers were built between 2007 and 2012.
Naftomar’s buying attention has turned firmly towards LR1s, as all its three latest acquisitions have been vessels of that type.
Before buying the Fulham Road, Naftomar swooped in October 2023 on a pair of Hyundai-Mipo built LR1 sister ships sold by Greek peer Alberta Shipmanagement — the 74,600-dwt Siena and Aesop (renamed Northernlight and Silverlight respectively, both built 2012).
The company has been busy in its traditional gas business as well, where it features a fleet of 17 LPG carriers.
As TradeWinds already reported, the company is set to expand into very large ammonia carriers, ordering four about a year ago at South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean for about $500m in total.
According to Naftomar’s website, the 93,000-cbm newbuildings will be delivered in 2026 and 2027, and as Gaz Ronin, Gaz Gotham, Gaz Rose and Gaz Pegasus.
At the same time, the company is shaking out older vessels from its legacy fleet.
In September, its 22,700-cbm Gaz Millennium (renamed ARD Horizon, built 2002) emerged with Turkey-based Adam Energy, probably after a deal agreed in July at an undisclosed price.
In another deal earlier this year, brokers reported the 7,400-cbm Gaz Venezia (built 1995) as sold to undisclosed owners at an undisclosed price.
The ship has emerged under its new name of LPG Venus, under the technical management of India-based Mirsh Ship Management Service.
Naftomar is one of the oldest Greek LPG players. Established by the Zein family as a trading house in Beirut in the 1970s, it moved to Athens in 1991.
