Shipowner Sinokor Merchant Marine is poised to boost its recently acquired VLCC fleet to 17 vessels with a slew of fresh charter deals after being linked to an already eye-popping string of tie-ups in the last few days.
The South Korean firm is said to have agreed on subjects to take five large crude carriers on time charter.
Market sources have identified two of these vessels, which are each set to be earning $35,000 per day on charters due to start in May.
They named these as the 315,200-dwt Almi Atlas (built 2018), which will be employed for two years.
Sinokor is also said to have fixed the 300,000-dwt Elandra Elbrus (built 2020) on subjects for a period of 18 months.
Both these VLCCs are equipped with scrubbers. Such vessels enjoy a huge advantage lately, after the Ukraine war sent the spread between high and low-sulphur bunkers soaring.
TradeWinds reported in May last year that the Elandra Elbrus, which is owned by trader Vitol’s shipping arm Mansel, was chartered to Norwegian energy company Equinor, for a period of 12 months at $33,500 per day.
But VLCC market sources said under these latest deals Equinor is redelivering the vessel early.
On 14 March, Equinor announced that it will stop trading Russian oil in response to the war in Ukraine.
Those following Sinokor said that aside from these two vessels, the media-shy shipowner has also fixed another three VLCCs on subjects. But the names of these have yet to emerge.
Talk of this latest quintet follows Sinokor’s other high-profile VLCC moves reported by TradeWinds earlier this month.
These included the fixture of five eco, scrubber-fitted vessels relet from energy major ExxonMobil for periods of between 12 and 18 months.
The shipowner was further linked to the purchase of eight non-scrubber-fitted VLCCs from Euronav, Ridgebury Tankers and Athenian Tankers.
Sinokor’s reported moves left market watchers baffled, even before today’s rumoured fixture of an additional five VLCCs.
“They are really going for it,” one broker commented on 11 March.
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 like the company’s purchase of secondhand LNG carriers, the bulk of which were laid up and have since been sold for scrap.
Spokespersons for Sinokor and Almi Tankers have been contacted to comment.
Vitol has told TradeWinds previously that it does not comment on its business or shipping activities.
