South Korean shipowner Sinokor Merchant Marine has boosted its VLCC fleet by 12 vessels in total, adding nine tankers to the three it recently purchased.
Tanker market sources said Sinokor has bought four vessels from Euronav. They name these ships as the 323,500-dwt Sandra and Sara (both built 2011), the Simone (built 2012) and the 314,000-dwt Sonia (built 2012).
A price on the ships has yet to emerge but TradeWinds understands the deal was concluded recently.
Euronav has been asked to confirm and comment on these sales.
In addition, Sinokor is said to have taken five eco, scrubber-fitted VLCCs on charter for periods of 12 to 18 months from energy major ExxonMobil.
The vessels are named as the Japanese-built 302,000-dwt Lita (built 2018), the 319,000-dwt Maran Ajax and Maran Ares (built 2017), the 320,000-dwt Sophia (built 2017) and the 302,000-dwt Caribbean Glory (built 2017).
ExxonMobil originally fixed the vessels on long-term deals of around seven years from Maran Tankers, Sun Enterprises and the Caribbean Glory from Sinokor.
The Korean owner is widely reported to be paying rates of around $35,000 per day on the ships.
Tanker market players said this is a firm rate with levels for one-year deals currently in the range of $28,000 to $32,000 per day.
ExxonMobil from Maran, Sun Enterprises (confusingly, the Caribbean Glory was already Sinokor)
The nine VLCCs in these two deals come on top of three recent purchases reportedly made by Sinokor.
The shipowner was reported to have bought Ridgebury Tankers’ 307,000-dwt Nautilus (built 2006) and Navarin (built 2007) for $63.5m en bloc.
In February brokers said Sinokor bought the Hyundai Heavy Industries-built, 298,996-dwt Athenian Success (built 2010) from Athenian Sea Carriers for $42.5m.
Those following the VLCC sector said they are genuinely baffled as to the drivers for the big move on VLCC tonnage by Sinokor.
“They are really going for it,” one broker commented.
Some market players speculated that the shipowner must have a confirmed use for the vessels, possibly for some kind of storage play.
But Sinokor is also known for making big market moves against anticipated market requirements with others pointing to the company’s purchases of secondhand LNG carriers, the bulk of which were laid up and have since been sold for scrap.
Sinokor’s elected spokesman has been contacted about these latest two deals on the nine VLCCs.
