Lykiardopulo company Neda Maritime Agency has bought a tanker on the secondhand market in its first such move in 15 years.
Shipmanagement sources in Athens and London identify the low-profile outfit as the new owner of Metrostar Management's 115,600-dwt LR2 tanker Prosky (built 2019).
Neda is said to have spent $51m on the vessel, which was built at Daehan Shipbuilding.
Shipping sources in Athens describe this as a "big price", considering that the vessel is not equipped with a scrubber.
Neda is familiar with LR2s built at Daehan. It ordered one there two years ago — the 115,000-dwt Stresa (built 2022), which is scheduled to be delivered early next year.
Neda has so far been renewing its tanker fleet through newbuildings. Alongside the Stresa, it has ordered two VLCCs at Hyundai Heavy Industries, taking delivery in 2019 and 2021.
Neda has not bought a tanker on the secondhand market since 2006, when the 319,200-dwt Shinyo Florentina (built 2005) was acquired expensively for $135m. That ship is still in the Neda fleet, trading as Argenta.
Managers at Theodore Angelopoulos-controlled Metrostar were not immediately available to comment on the Prosky sale.
The Prosky was one of four tankers in the Metrostar fleet. TradeWinds has reported in the past that the Prosky and sistership Prostar were taken by Teekay Tankers on two-year charters.
The Prosky, Prostar and two other modern suezmaxes are the fruit of Metrostar's efforts to rebuild its fleet after an aggressive sales campaign between 2013 and 2017 in which it divested its considerable tanker holdings.
