Greek tanker owner IMS has divested one of its oldest vessels at a considerably higher price than it bought it for seven years ago.
Market sources in Piraeus said the Marios Gialozoglou-led company sold the 46,000-dwt Butterfly (built 2004) for $18m.
The deal was likely agreed a few weeks back.
IMS bought the STX Shipbuilding-built vessel from Belgium’s Transpetrol for about $11.2m, equivalent to $14.4m in today’s money, TradeWinds reported in October 2017.
VesselsValue shows the ship has already changed hands and is now trading as the Starway in the fleet of Hong Kong-registered Hechuang International Group.
This is the second ship IMS has sold this year. In July, the company flipped the 42,700-dwt Sugar (renamed Radhika, built 2002) for 140% more than it paid for it in May 2022.
However, the low-profile company has had a clear focus on expansion.
IMS is one of Greece’s most prolific tanker buyers, piling up 22 secondhand acquisitions over the past two years. Fifteen of these were MR product tankers built before 2012.
Gialozoglou’s long-term bet is that shifting geopolitics will allow middle-aged and older tankers to trade profitably for years, benefiting from trade inefficiencies and earning higher freight rates over longer distances.
His most recent acquisitions have been the 53,200-dwt ice-class MR2s White Peach (renamed Ahinos) and 50,000-dwt Neutron Sound (renamed Apiastos, both built 2007).
