U-Ming Marine Transport has found a buyer for a VLCC it put up for sale in May.
The Taipei-headquartered shipowner has sold the 318,800-dwt Starlight Venture (built 2004) to Nigerian interests for $30m, brokers reported.
The quoted price quoted shows that U-Ming has benefited from strengthening vessel prices in the large tanker segments despite ongoing lacklustre crude tanker rates.
When U-Ming put the Hyundai Heavy Industries-built ship on the market, VesselsValue estimated it was worth $28.5m, while Maritime Strategies International indicates the ship's fair market value range is between $25.2m and $29.6m for the second quarter of this year.
Senior U-Ming executives said at the time that they were “considering their options” for the ship as it reached its 18th year in service.
The company said it was unable to comment on the sale due to confidentiality requirements.
Although U-Ming is best known as a bulker owner and operator, it delved into the tanker sector in the early 2000s in joint-venture partnerships with other players.
The Starlight Venture was ordered in a 50:50 partnership with Hong Kong-based Wah Kwong Maritime Transport. U-Ming assumed full ownership of the vessel in 2009, although Wah Kwong has continued to manage it.
The sale leaves U-Ming with a small, indirect presence in the tanker market through its 40% stake in Global Energy Maritime, a Taiwan-based operator of three VLCCs and an LR1 product tanker.
Other partners in Global Energy Maritime are Chinese Maritime Transport and CPC Corp.
