A host of mysterious new shipping companies and shipmanagers have sprung up in China and taken control of the tankers and gas carriers that had been in the fleet of Kunlun Shipping and an affiliate.
Close scrutiny of several shipping databases shows that nearly all of the ships that were trading in the Kunlun Shipping fleet, or were alleged to have been controlled by the company, have changed their names, registered owners and managers.
The moves came after the Shanghai-based company, Hong Kong affiliate Kunlun Holdings and director Xu Bin were sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in September for carrying Iranian crude oil and gas.
On paper, it appears that at least 10 ships have changed hands. Another vessel still under Kunlun control has been renamed.
Asian tanker and shipbroking sources have reacted with surprise to the news that the ships were on the move. No sales deals have been reported in the market, and none of the sources were aware that the vessels were even up for sale.
Even more intriguing is that most of the ships have gone to separate single-ship entities, but share a number of Chinese shipmanagers.
The only exception is the 77,100-cbm Sea Dolphin (built 2000), which has turned up in the fleet of Swiss company Geogas Trading as the Summit Terra. Kunlun had acquired the vessel from Geogas as the Summit Terra in June 2018. It reverted to its original owner and name last month.
Geogas did not respond to a request for comment.
It is unclear whether the ship had joined the Kunlun fleet via an outright sale or bareboat charter.
As for the other outfits that have assumed ownership of the Kunlun vessels, all appear to be brass-plate companies. Most have no listed addresses or phone numbers in the IHS Ships Register. Those that do have addresses in the database are listed under their respective shipmanagers.
Three of these managers — Zhejiang Taifu Supply Chain, Zhoushan Xinchi Ship Management and Shanghai Tucson Roy Ship Management — now run most of the former Kunlun fleet. They also appear new to the shipping scene, having not managed any vessels before.
TradeWinds attempted to contact the shipmanagement companies using information recently provided to maritime databases that draw their information from classification and regulatory records.
Zhejiang Taifu Supply Chain and Zhoushan Xinchi Shipmanagement are listed as sharing the email address "management@general-operation.com". Enquiries there brought no immediate response.
Zhejiang Taifu is listed as managing two VLCCs, the 311,000-dwt FT Island (ex-CCPC Vanguard, built 1998) and 300,000-dwt Latin Venture (ex-Pacific Bravo, built 2001). No one answered Zhejiang Taifu's phone.
Databases say Zhoushan Xinchi controls the 76,900-cbm Nexo (ex-Sea Dragon, built 1993), 77,000-cbm Sapphire I (ex-Gas Dignity, built 2000) and 309,000-dwt Judy II (ex-Tian Ying Zou, built 2001). It is listed at a visiting address in the Zhoushan island town of Putuo, but a telephone number associated with the Hongkou district of Shanghai. A person contacted there said the number was wrong and hung up.
Two other shipmanagers list Shanghai addresses that turned out to be other cost-conscious companies' co-working cubicles.
The space given as the address of Shanghai Tucson Roy Ship Management was vacated some time ago by a company called Shanghai Turong Shipping and is now occupied by an unrelated dry bulk chartering shop.
Office management staff said Turong has moved to another cubicle but does not use it daily, and agreed to contact a representative for the company.
However, the Turong representative had never heard of the two VLCCs that Tucson Roy is supposedly managing from its office, the 281,000-dwt Luna Lake (ex-Pacific Challenger, built 2001) and 298,000-dwt Longbow Lake (ex-Gulf Falcon, built 2002).
Shanghai Prosperity Shipping is listed as manager of the 45,800-dwt product tanker Barcan III (ex-CCPC Voyager, built 2004), but the office space belongs to a youthful group of online resellers of cameras and mobile phones. The Shanghai telephone exchange said Shanghai Prosperity's number does not exist.
| Vessels directly owned by Kunlun | ||||||
Vessel | Type | Size | Built | New name | New owner | New manager |
Gas Infinity | VLGC | 78,500 cbm | 2000 | Echo Star | Cepheus Ltd | Shanghai Legendary Ship Management |
Sea Dragon | VLGC | 76,900 cbm | 1993 | Nexo | Austral Resources Ltd | Zhoushan Xinchi Ship Management |
Gas Dignity | VLGC | 77,000 cbm | 2000 | Sapphire I | Nordic Harmony | Zhoushan Xinchi Ship Management |
Sea Dolphin | VLGC | 77,100 cbm | 2000 | Summit Terra | Geogas Trading | Wilhelmsen Ship Management |
CCPC Vanguard | VLCC | 311,000 dwt | 1998 | FT Island | Asia Affluence Ltd | Zhejiang Taifu Supply Chain |
Tian Ying Zou | VLCC | 309,000 dwt | 2001 | Judy II | Saddleback Shipping | Zhoushan Xinchi Ship Management |
| Vessels owned by single-ship entities widely alleged to have been controlled by Kunlun | ||||||
Vessel | Type | Size | Built | New name | New owner | New manager |
CCPC Voyager | Product tanker | 45,800 dwt | 2004 | Barcan III | Barcan Shipping | Shanghai Prosperity Ship Management |
Pacific Bravo | VLCC | 300,000 dwt | 2001 | Latin Venture | Latin Venture Ltd | Zhejiang Taifu Supply Chain |
Pacific Challenger | VLCC | 281,000 dwt | 2001 | Luna Lake | Kander Trading Ltd | Shanghai Tucson Roy Ship Management |
Gulf Falcon | VLCC | 300,000 dwt | 2002 | Longbow Lake | Limo Star Investing | Shanghai Tucson Roy Ship Management |
