Two product tankers acquired three years ago as part of the Xihe Group bankruptcy proved a highly lucrative investment for Greek owner Spring Marine Management, which is now more than doubling its money by flipping the ships.
At the same time, the Athens-based company is set to secure a considerable profit by selling an 18-year-old aframax it has owned since the middle of 2022.
The two deals are evidence of continuing buyer appetite in the secondhand tanker market. This is particularly seen in the MR and handysize segments, where the number of transactions is broadly steady this year, despite a slowdown in tanker deals overall.
The most lucrative of Spring Marine’s deals concerns the 50,200-dwt Bachata (built 2008).
According to market sources in Athens, the low-profile company obtained about $27m for the SLS Shipbuilding-constructed product tanker that passed a special survey about a year ago.
Spring Marine spent about $11m to acquire the vessel during the Xihe bankruptcy sell-off in the spring of 2021.
Liquidators had sold the ship as the Chang Jiang at the time.
Spring Marine repeated the trick earlier this year with a sister ship it had acquired in the same bankruptcy procedures.
The 50,100-dwt Bolero (ex-Dong Jiang, built 2009) apparently changed hands in May for about $27.5m. That ship is currently listed as Rodeo in the managed fleet of UAE-based Avanah Petroleum DMCC.
Spring Marine, which is a very busy player on both sides of the S&P fence, is about to conclude a third sale as well.
Market sources say the firm has an initial agreement to sell the 104,900-dwt aframax Lambada (built 2006) to undisclosed buyers for a price exceeding the $30m-mark.
The profit margin Spring Marine will achieve with the Lambada is not quite as high as in the case of the two MRs, but is still considerable.
The price at which the company purchased the vessel in mid-2022 remains undisclosed.
According to VesselsValue, however, the Lambada was worth about $22m when it joined the company’s fleet in July of that year.
