Indonesia’s Buana Lintas Lautan (BULL) has been identified as the seller of the four tankers that newcomer United Maritime Corp announced it had purchased earlier this week.
United Maritime, a spin-off by US-listed capesize bulker owner Seanergy Maritime, announced on 11 July that it entered the tanker business with a $79.5m deal for a quartet of vessels it did not name.
Broking sources say the two LR2 vessels that United Maritime bought are BULL’s 109,600-dwt Timberwolf and 108,800-dwt Thunderbolt (both built 2008).
The two aframaxes changing hands are believed to be BULL’s 113,600-dwt sisterships Godam and Mandala (both built 2006).
Managers at BULL and United Maritime did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ships’ characteristics match the few details that United Maritime revealed about the four vessels it bought.
The Seanergy spin-off disclosed that the two acquired 114,000-dwt aframaxes were built in 2006 at a South Korean shipyard, and that its pair of 109,000-dwt LR2s were built in 2008 at separate yards in China.
The Godam and Mandala were built at Samsung Heavy Industries. The Timberwolf was delivered by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co and the Thunderbolt is a product of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
Rising values
Market sources are telling TradeWinds that the deal has been in the pipeline for three months now. That is also confirmed by the vessels’ $79.5m price tag, which reflects vessel values prevalent in April.
Prices for secondhand tankers have appreciated rapidly since. The Signal Ocean and VesselsValue data platforms indicate that the quartet combined is worth about $100m now.
However, that does not mean that BULL has lost money on the deal. The Indonesian company had acquired the four vessels at low prices between late 2019 and late 2020.
The Timberwolf was bought from Maersk Tankers in November 2020, when the ship was estimated to have been worth just about $17m. Trading as the Maersk Pelican at the time, it was the first product tanker in the world to test the use of wind-propulsion technology.
BULL bought the Thunderbolt, again in late 2020, for around $20m from the bankruptcy administrators of Xihe Tankers.
As for the two aframaxes, BULL purchased them in 2019 from Capital Ship Management. Evangelos Marinakis-controlled Capital had in turn bought them at an even lower price the year before, from BP Shipping.
It is a testament to how far secondhand aframax values have advanced since 2018 that Capital acquired each of the two vessels for just about $14m at the time — maybe even less.
According to VesselsValue and Signal Ocean, each of the two aframaxes is worth between $24m and $25m now.
This appreciation seems to substantiate the statement by United Maritime chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis on 11 July, that the four vessels he bought would be “an ideal fit” and “highly accretive” for his company.
BULL is known to be shedding its older tankers in recent months. On 1 July, TradeWinds reported that the company offloaded the 109,600-dwt Maza (renamed Ruby Phoenix, built 2005) to Elite Tankships of Singapore at an undisclosed price.
