Trans KA Tankers has extended efforts to establish a sizeable MR1 product tanker fleet with its sixth purchase in two years.
Until 2021, the shipping arm of Turkey’s Akbasoglu Holdings was predominantly managing small chemical tankers, several of which it had ordered to its own account.
This changed in November of that year when the Akbasoglu family embarked on a campaign to acquire MR tankers in the secondhand market.
Trans KA has quietly assembled a fleet of six such vessels since, spending an estimated $75m in the process.
According to shipping databases, the latest acquisition has now joined the fleet — the 37,300-dwt San Carlos (renamed Lydia KA, built 2007).
It seems to have been a sale-and-purchase deal with prompt delivery. Brokers had reported the San Carlos as sold just a few days earlier by Italy’s Gestioni Armatoriali for $20.5m.
Managers at Trans KA did not respond to a request for comment on the specific deal and their overall strategy.
Judging by their market moves, however, there is a clear pattern in their activities.
Five of the six MR1s acquired by Trans KA over the past two years were built at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in 2006 and 2007.
The sixth ship, the 37,100-dwt Uluc KA (ex-Baltic Sky I, built 2001), was built at HMD as well but is an outlier in the sense that it is a little older.
Akbasoglu Holdings bought its first three MR tankers between November 2021 and April 2022, before the Ukraine war started sending secondhand prices for such vessels through the roof.
The Turkish company continued buying ships at a slower pace as prices climbed.
Despite its expansion into MRs, Trans KA maintains a presence in the smaller tanker segment.
A fleet list on its website features eight such managed vessels with capacities between 600 dwt and 25,800 dwt.
Trans KA was established in 1972 by Ali Kemal Akbasoglu, who handed over the company in 1986 to sons Emin and Metin.
The two siblings grew the firm and expanded it into chemical and product tankers by investing in 11 newbuildings constructed in their home country at the beginning of this century.
Akbasoglu’s decision earlier this month to expand with the purchase of the San Carlos provided a handsome asset play opportunity for the ship’s previous owner, Gestioni Armatoriali.
The Italian company acquired the vessel in 2018 for just $11m, nearly half the price at which it has now flipped it to Trans KA.
The ship’s sale leaves Naples and Ravenna-based Gestioni Armatoriali with two identical tankers in its fleet, the 37,300-dwt sister ships San Felix and San Sebastian (both built 2007).
