Greek shipowners Thenamaris and Sea World Management & Trading have been confirmed as the buying party in two rare resale deals for product tanker newbuildings that attracted the market’s attention early this year.
The two deals, for a pair of MR2 vessels each, were reported by TradeWinds and the new information confirms the identity of the new owners post delivery.
Thenamaris was linked in April to a $106m deal for two scrubber-fitted, 50,000-dwt units under construction at Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding in China.
The Nikolas Martinos-led company has confirmed its purchase, listing the vessels as the Seaexplorer and Seamerit on its website.
Listed as Hull Nos 1515 and 1516, the pair are due for delivery in 2025 — coinciding with the delivery of the other eight LR2 newbuildings that Thenamaris has under construction at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding.
What remains unclear is the seller of the ships, with opinions diverging on whether it was Greek peer Evalend Shipping or New Yangzi itself.
Thenamaris was not the only Greek company to swoop on scrubber-fitted MR2 resale tonnage early this year.
Sea World Management — the tanker arm of the J Laliotis Maritime Group — has emerged as the new owner of two scrubber-fitted, LNG-ready 50,000-dwt hulls currently under construction at K Shipbuilding.
TradeWinds reported in February how Piraeus and New York-based SteelShips made an asset play by selling Hull Nos 1952 and 1953 to undisclosed buyers.
Managers at the low-profile company did not respond to a request for comment.
S&P Global lists Sea World Management as their manager, adding that the ships are due for delivery in April and July next year.
Sea World Management — which should not be confused with a Monaco-based company of the same name — likely bought the two ships to replace two older MR2s and an aframax it sold over the past two years to capitalise on rising tanker values.
The three tankers sold by Sea World Management in that period have since emerged with companies registered in Hong Kong, the Seychelles and Turkey.
Tanker sales to Asian owners have indeed been the predominant feature of the Greek tanker sale-and-purchase scene after the Ukraine war catapulted prices for such vessels.
That does not mean that Hellenic players have ceased buying crude and product carriers, betting that geopolitical disruption and sanctions will give a long-term boost to freight rates.
TradeWinds has already mentioned IMS SA and Aerio Shipmanagement as some of the most frequent Hellenic buyers of MR tonnage in the current cycle.
Other, more low-profile Greek buyers have been Sea Trade Marine, Perosea Shipping and Flynn Ventures, which have acquired 14 such vessels between them on the secondhand market since early 2023.
In contrast to the newbuildings purchased by Thenamaris and Sea World Management, the MRs bought by the three companies mentioned above are much older, with an average age of about 17 years.
