Days after Saudi Arabian owner Bahri was linked to a deal for two modern VLCCs, unidentified Middle Eastern interests are said to be moving on another vessel of the same type and age.
US and UK brokers reported rumours swirling around the 300,000-dwt Delos (built 2019), in the fleet of Embiricos family-controlled Aeolos Shipmanagement.
The scrubber-fitted, DSME-built vessel is said to be changing hands at $116m — far exceeding instant valuations from online data platforms VesselsValue and Signal Ocean.
It is also higher than the impressive $114m price tag that Bahri was said to be paying last week for a pair of scrubber-fitted, four-year-old VLCCs, which are owned by Iraqia Shipping Services & Oil Trading (AISSOT) — the 320,600-dwt Dijilah and Kirkuk (both built 2019).
However, other brokers report that the Bahri transaction concerns a different pair of VLCCs, chartered by AISSOT but owned by Greece’s Thenamaris — the 320,600-dwt Diyala and Ninawa (both built 2019).
Regardless of which ships are changing hands, the motivation behind the rumoured deals is similar: owners who ordered modern VLCCs cheaply, at a time of multi-year low newbuilding prices, are now finding eager buyers willing to pay top dollar for rare modern tonnage.
Aeolos ordered the Delos in 2017, when average VLCC newbuilding prices were at a 14-year low. The company is believed to have spent between $82m and $84m on the vessel.
The VLCCs that AISSOT or Thenamaris are reportedly selling were ordered at about the same time and at similar prices by the BW Group, which apparently flipped them in a resale deal one year later.
Canny asset plays are a hallmark of the Embiricos and Martinos families, which respectively control Aeolos and Thenamaris.
“All shipowners might like to think that they have a little bit of ‘pirate’ in them, sailing the high seas in search of treasure ... the bounty today is in the value of their hulls,” Gibson Shipbrokers said on the Delos deal.
For owners such as Bahri, which are renewing their fleets, modern VLCC tonnage is hard to come by.
Newbuilding orders for large tankers have been very low and owners of existing ships on the water are loath to part with them, given frothy freight markets.
As secondhand values for modern VLCCs approach parity with newbuilding costs, Clarksons released research last week that said the 24 modern VLCCs acquired by Frontline from Euronav in October had already appreciated by 3.5% in value and could increase even further, by at least 10%.
Athenian pivot
Somewhat older VLCCs are changing hands as well.
In a confirmed deal, Athenian Sea Carriers is selling the 319,000-dwt Athenian Freedom (built 2013). Brokers report that the Kyriakou family-controlled company sold it to Greek peers for about $73.5m.
One Greek broker reports that Thenamaris has bought the vessel, which would be a remarkable move considering the company’s rumoured, parallel sale of the much younger VLCCs Diyala and Ninawa.
Athenian came close to raising even more money from the South Korean-built ship. As TradeWinds reported, the Athenian Freedom was again agreed sold in September, at a much higher price of $75.5m, to China’s Dong Sheng, but the deal failed.
Under the leadership of chief executive Jens Martin Jensen, Athenian is making a pivot towards smaller chemical tankers, ordering a series of such newbuildings at Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group.
Managers at Aeolos did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thenamaris declined to comment, citing standard policy not to discuss commercial transactions.
