Nikolaos Vafias has extended his investment in tonnage to almost $90m in less than two weeks with a swoop for a Brightoil Petroleum aframax tanker being auctioned in Singapore.
Having seen off competition from a large group of rival owners to seal the deal, Vafias has now bought four vessels across three different markets in just nine days.
Tanker market sources said Vafias was the highest bidder for the 107,000-dwt Brightoil Lion (built 2010) in what is a rare move in the secondhand tanker market for the wider Vafias family.
Nine other bids
The sources suggest he has bought the vessel for $26m in an auction that is said to have attracted nine other bids, including from multiple Greek owners.
Nikolaos Vafias is the father of StealthGas chief executive Harry and the family has 11 other aframaxes under its control, all of which were contracted as newbuildings.
While Vafias senior is best known as a dry cargo owner, having launched his career in the bulker market in the 1970s, his latest investments appear to be driven by asset values rather than vessel types.
Last week, TradeWinds reported he had purchased a capesize bulker and two gas carriers for a total of $63m.
The move for the 176,000-dwt Maritime Power (built 2005) echoes the Greek owner’s last play in the capesize market in 2016, when two ships were bought and flipped for a profit in about three months.
Sources noted the purchase comes as the aframax period market has boomed with IMO 2020 expected to drive up earnings and asset values.
Vafias senior took a five-year break from shipping at the turn of the last decade after handing the running of Brave Maritime over to his son in 2008.
He returned in 2013 with new vehicle Eco Dry Ventures, initially in the handysize space.
