Hot on the heels of its big-ticket sale of eight product tankers to Torm last week, Sinokor Merchant Marine is now being tied to a deal worth close to $140m for a pair of modern aframaxes.
US brokers report that two sister ships managed by the South Korean shipping giant are being sold to Vietnamese interests, possibly FGAS Petrol Co, for a price “in the high $60m” each.
The tankers in question are the 115,100-dwt Pacific Jewels and Pacific Treasures (both built 2016).
Managers at Sinokor were not contactable. Executives at Korea Ship Finance — the ships’ financial lessor since May 2023 — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A sale would not be a surprise, given Sinokor’s recent sale history and the profit it stands to garner from offloading the Pacific Jewels and Pacific Treasures at the current point in time.
The South Korean shipping giant has been active in cashing in on rising asset values by offloading parts of its considerable tanker fleet.
As TradeWinds reported, the company raised $340m in cash and stock in US-listed Torm by selling eight product tankers to the Danish company.
A sale of the Pacific Jewels and Pacific Treasures would also be highly lucrative.
Sinokor ordered the scrubber-fitted crude tanker pair at DH Shipbuilding in early 2015, when an aframax newbuilding cost just about $50m.
According to the instant valuation tools of VesselsValue and Signal Ocean, the Pacific Jewels and Pacific Treasures are currently worth between $64m and $68m each.
If confirmed, their sale would provide evidence of continued buying activity for aframaxes, despite their soaring prices.
Value appreciation has led to a marked slowdown in sale-and-purchase activity, particularly for big tankers.
The last news of a crude aframax deal made the rounds at the end of June, when Greece’s Capital Ship Management reportedly sold the 115,500-dwt Aristofanis (built 2020) to Azeri buyers for $78.8m.
“Prices remain exceptionally high across all segments,” Greek broker WeberSeas said in its latest weekly report on 19 July.
