Three more Xihe Holdings tankers — a VLCC and two aframaxes — have been reported as sold this week.
Brokers have suggested that Aeolos Management of Greece and Union Maritime, the UK’s largest independent tanker company, are behind the deals.
Market talk in Singapore on Tuesday indicated that Aeolos Management — led by London Greek owner Philip Embiricos — was poised to take immediate delivery of the 318,000-dwt crude carrier Hua San (built 2008) after buying it for $29.5m.
As with the bulk of the Xihe tanker fleet that was previously operated by Ocean Tankers, the Hua San has spent the bulk of 2020 anchored in the South China Sea. On Monday, it arrived in Singapore, where it is said to be in the process of being handed over to its new owner.
London-headquartered Union Maritime is also widely reported by brokers to have acquired two aframaxes from the Xihe stable.
The company is said to have bought the 108,900-dwt epoxy-coated product tanker Ocean Quest (built 2008) for $15.3m and the 108,000-dwt Ocean Unicorn (built 2009) for $15.7m.
The AIS transponders for these two tankers show the Ocean Quest to be idling in the Mediterranean while the Ocean Unicorn is doing the same in the South China Sea.
TradeWinds was unable to contact Aeolos Management and Union Maritime for confirmation of the deals before the European working day began on Tuesday.
The three vessels were part of a clutch of six tankers that Xihe’s interim judicial manager — accounting firm Grant Thornton — put up for sale in late October.
Other tankers included in the tranche were the 318,000-dwt crude carriers Jing Gang San (built 2013) and Lu San (built 2009), and the 74,000-dwt product tanker Po Yang Hu (built 2007).
The Jing Gang San has been linked to a possible sale to Anna Angelicoussis-controlled Pantheon Tankers. No details have emerged in the market yet about and potential deals involving the remaining two ships, which are being marketed exclusively by Arrow Shipbroking and Clarksons.
Further units of the Xihe fleet are being marketed by other banking-related creditors of the company.
So far, the fleet sell-off has seen a large number of VLCCs and product tankers sold off to prominent shipowners including Zodiac Maritime, Maran Tankers, Spring Marine, Vitol and Buana Lintas Lautan.
Xihe is linked to the family of Lim Oon Kuin, founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading and affiliated shipping company Ocean Tankers.
The legal woes of Lim, already charged in Singapore with forgery and accused by Hin Leong’s judicial managers PwC of widespread and systematic trade fraud, took a turn for the worse last week when the Bank of China filed a claim against him seeking a repayment of around $187m for what it alleged in court affidavits were fraudulent deals involving BP, as well as overdue payments on short-term trade credit facilities.
BP, which the Bank of China is suing in Singapore for $125.7m in a related case, strongly refuted the allegations and said it would defend its position.
