Thenamaris has quietly sold its two oldest ships to rid its fleet of any vessels beyond the age of 20 years.
The two separate deals, which were Thenamaris’ first tanker sales in 2024, boosted the company’s coffers by more than $60m.
It has sold the 105,300-dwt Isabella (built 2004), which was with Thenamaris since its delivery from HD Hyundai Samho.
Nikolas Martinos-led Thenamaris has also cashed in the 115,600-dwt Seaqueen (built 2004), which the company spent $74.6m to acquire from Italy’s Finaval in December 2007.
As with so many other older tankers sold since the Ukraine war broke out in February 2022, the new owners and managers of the two ships are little-known entities registered recently in Asian jurisdictions.
According to vessel trackers, both ships have been trading under their new owners between ports in Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the Indian subcontinent.
The Isabella has traded since April as Lebre under the management of one-ship, Seychelles-based company My Fallen and the technical management of Azerbaijan-based Marine Guardian Shipmanagement.
According to VesselsValue, the Isabella changed hands in early February, when the online data platform estimated it was worth around $30.5m.
The Seaqueen was likely sold in May when it was worth about $36m.
The Samsung-built ship emerged in July as the Victory, under the management of Liberia-based one-ship company Victory Global Navigation SA and the technical management of United Arab Emirates-based Al Sayad Ship Services LLC.
Al Sayad has another four tankers in its fleet, which it started assembling in June 2023.
One of them is the 103,100-dwt aframax Lion Marine (ex-Minerva Helen, built 2004), which Greece’s Minerva Marine reportedly sold in April to Chinese buyers for $30.35m.
Al Sayad is also listed with a pair of MRs, which used to belong to Athens-based Flynn Ventures.
The new technical manager of the Isabella, Marine Guardian, is tied to another former Greek aframax.
The Azeri company has been listed since April with the 105,400-dwt Thorin (built 2007) — a vessel that was trading as the Izumo Princess with Tsakos Energy Navigation until the US-listed company sold the ship in April to undisclosed buyers.
Large-scale fleet recycling
Thenamaris and TEN have sold 32 tankers between them on the secondhand market since early 2022, in deals worth about $1.1bn.
The liquidity from these sales helped the two companies invest in wide-ranging newbuilding programmes.
Thenamaris, a company with 46 tankers on the water, has inked 10 orders for LR2s and MR2s since 2022 in deals worth about $610m in China and South Korea.
TEN’s newbuilding outlay has been even bigger, with 16 tankers ordered since 2021 in deals worth more than $1.2bn.
