Robert Maersk Uggla-linked Navigare Capital Partners has bought its first VLCC as tanker asset prices begin to recover.
Brokers reported the Copenhagen-based fund manager acquired the scrubber-fitted, 298,000-dwt Hudson (built 2017) from Transportation Recovery Fund (TRF) for $70.5m.
The ship is one of two VLCCs that Oslo-based TRF ordered from Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction’s Subic Bay facility in the Philippines in 2014.
When contacted by TradeWinds, Navigare managing partner Henrik Ramskov confirmed the purchase but declined to provide more information.
Uggla and Ramskov established Navigare with three other partners in 2017 to provide institutional investors with opportunities to gain exposure to maritime assets.
The VLCC will join three MRs, two aframaxes and three suezmaxes in Navigare's tanker fleet.
Market sources said TRF had been looking to sell the three VLCCs under its control for months.
Diamantis Diamantides-controlled Delta Tankers was reported to be buying the scrubber-fitted, 297,600-dwt TRF Horten (built 2018) for $72m in November last year. But the deal failed to materialise.
Improved market mood
Secondhand tanker prices have been rising despite spot earnings remaining in the doldrums.
Clarksons Research recently estimated the price for a five-year-old VLCC at $70m, up from $63m last November.
But such a ship went for $77m in April 2020, setting a four-year high price wise.
Sale-and-purchase brokers said the Hudson was one of the few eco vessels on the sales block recently.
“Nothing is for sale, really ... It was one of the few available,” one of the brokers said.
Another said: “Young vessels have a good future in the tanker market, even though freight rates will likely stay weak until the end of this year or early 2021.
“The orderbook is small, and new decarbonisation rules are likely to force many ships into slow steaming in the coming years, undercutting tonnage supply.”
Among other deals, China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) reportedly sold the 299,000-dwt New Century (built 2009) to unspecified interests for $31m.
TradeWinds has approached the shipowner for comment.
In a recent exchange filing, Shanghai-listed CMES said it had sold the 297,300-dwt VLCC tanker New Creation (built 2009) to Thenamaris for CNY 249m ($38.7m), inclusive of commissions.
