Angeliki Frangou-led Navios Maritime Partners has reportedly divested its second tanker on the sale-and-purchase market this year, continuing the ongoing renewal of its giant fleet.
The 50,500-dwt MR2 Nave Equator (built 2009) has been sold to Indonesian buyers for $26m, US brokers said.
Navios managers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A sale of the vessel would be the latest in a string of S&P deals for MR product tankers — the most coveted tanker type by far in the secondhand market, given their stellar earnings performance.
Built at SPP Shipbuilding in South Korea, the Nave Equator is not equipped with a scrubber and has been trading with Navios since 2011.
According to the company’s website, the ship is currently on a charter with unidentified clients that expires in October and brings in $23,300 per day.
Navios, which does not comment on reported deals outside public filings, is known to be shaking out older vessels when they are at the end of ongoing charters.
In addition to the rising tanker values, Navios might be inclined to sell the Nave Equator, given that the vessel’s special survey is due in September.
Below valuation estimates
The pending special survey may also explain the $26m price tag for the ship, which seems low, considering that VesselsValue estimates it is worth $29.4m while Signal Ocean pegs it at $27.4m.
Another reason for a sale would be Navios’ rolling fleet renewal.
The Nave Equator is one of the four oldest tankers in the company’s fleet of 17 MR2s on the water.
Navios is engaged in a wide-ranging fleet renewal process under which it shakes out older ships that are replaced with newbuildings or younger tonnage.
The company currently has six MR2s under construction due for delivery between 2025 and 2027.
Between the summer of 2022 — when Frangou formed Navios Maritime Partners to bring under the same roof the fleets of former affiliates Navios Maritime Holdings, Navios Maritime Containers and Navios Maritime Acquisition — and May 2024, it raised about $680m from 28 confirmed sales of bulkers, tankers and container ships.
The tally will rise to 34 ships for total proceeds of about $783m if Navios eventually confirms the sale of the Nave Equator, as well as other broker reports that have linked it to deals for a string of bulkers and container ships since April.
These unconfirmed deals concern the 76,600-dwt Navios Taurus (built 2005), the 58,100-dwt Navios Christine B and Navios Celestial and the 4,253-teu Navios Lapis (all built 2009).
The last time Navios sold a tanker was in January, when Frangou offloaded the 297,200-dwt VLCC Nave Spherical (built 2009) for about $53.9m.
That vessel emerged in May under its new name Symphony in the managed fleet of Vietnam-based Asia Pacific Shipping.
