Four small Xihe product tankers placed under arrest by the Bank of America will be sold at auction in Singapore on Thursday 9 December.
The 12,000-dwt epoxy-coated product tankers Ocean Goby and Ocean Manta (both built 2017), as well as sisterships Ocean Jack and Ocean Porpoise (both built 2018) will be sold via a sealed bid tender process, with offers due in at the Sheriff of Singapore's office at 3pm (2300 GMT) on the day.
The Zhejiang Shenzhou-built quartet were among a large fleet of small clean tankers that Xihe, via affiliated tanker operator Ocean Tankers, deployed on regional routes across Asia.
All have seen prolonged spells of lay-up since the collapse of oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin's trading and shipping empire in early 2020.
Surveys conducted by Singapore-based surveying company ALC Consulting Services described the American Bureau of Shipping-classed ships as being well maintained, crewed and in good condition despite their many months of inactivity.
The surveys did note that some of the vessels had moderate marine growth on their hulls and would require underwater hull cleaning.
Potential buyers of the Ocean Goby will need to put the ship through an immediate special survey as this is due in November. Special surveys for the remaining vessels are due between February 2022 and January 2023.
VesselsValue pegs values of between $11.2m and $12.6m on the ships depending on their build date.
Bank of America arrested the four tankers after filing mortgage claims against them in August. Although Xihe's vessels are protected from such seizures in Singapore under a court-supervised liquidation process, its judicial managers have previously given permission for creditors — primarily mortgage holders — to arrest vessels in order to have them sold via judicial auction.
The majority of Xihe's once vast fleet of 117 tankers have been sold directly by the liquidators through broking channels, with only a few sold via a court auction.
Only 35 remained unsold this week.
The auction sales of the four small product tankers will leave only the 318,600-dwt crude carrier Wu Yi San (built 2012) under arrest in Singapore. The VLCC was seized at the end of September by Credit Agricole Asia Shipfinance, and is also expected to be placed on the auction block in the near future.
On Monday TradeWinds reported that the liquidators had sold 50,300-dwt MR2 product tankers Ocean Globe (built 2007) and Ocean Cosmos (built 2008) to undisclosed trading buyers, while the 37,300-dwt Ocean Winner (built 2002) had been sold for scrap.
