Banking giant JP Morgan is making a debut in the LR2 tanker segment with resale newbuildings. The US-based investment house has acquired two 114,000-dwt aframax product tankers that are being built at South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC).
Broking sources said JP Morgan has bought the LR2 newbuildings from Belgian shipowner Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) for $55m each. HHIC is due to deliver the tankers in August and September.
CMB director Benoit Timmermans confirmed the sale of the product carriers.
According to online database VesselsValue, JP Morgan affiliate Global Meridian Holdings owns a fleet of 40 vessels of which 14 are product/chemical tankers of between 24,600 dwt and 50,000 dwt.
In an email reply to TradeWinds, Andy Dacy, global head of transportation at JP Morgan Asset Management, said the firm’s “acquisition of these vessels (LR2 tankers) is a natural expansion of our product tanker activities, and balances our existing MR tanker fleet”.
The pair of product tanker newbuildings picked up by JP Morgan was part of a four-ship order CMB placed at Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Philippines (HHIC-Phil) in 2016.
However, the Subic-based shipyard did not complete construction due to financial problems.
The three-quarter built tankers were left “sun-bathing” at the dry docks for more than 18 months when HHIC-Phil shut down in early 2019.
Last autumn, CMB was reported to have enlisted HHIC to complete building the two LR2 tankers for $52.4m each. It had the vessels towed from the Philippines to South Korea.
Timmermans said CMB came out well on the LR2 tanker newbuilding investment after a lot of efforts were put in.
“HHIC is doing a fantastic job to complete the vessels to the highest standards,” he said.
The sale of the aframax product tankers to JP Morgan marks an exit for CMB from the clean product tanker sector. However, the company still has a fleet of seven stainless-steel chemical tankers.
VesselsValue shows JP Morgan was also active in buying secondhand containerships.
The investment bank bought three Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries-built, post-panamax boxships from Zodiac Maritime in March.
They are the 8,704-teu CSAV Tyndall (built 2014), CSAV Traiguen and CSAV Tocona (both built 2013). The selling price of the trio was not disclosed.
