Hong Kong's Winson Group is pocketing a gain on the sale of an aframax tanker that it bought less than 18 months ago.
US and European brokers said the 105,500-dwt Ever Rich No 18 (built 2003) has been sold to an undisclosed buyer for $14.3m.
Winson paid only $12.7m for the ship in February 2018, buying it as Maersk Privilege from Maersk Tankers.
The Sumitomo Heavy Industries-built ship is not due for special survey until November 2023.
The price is strong relative to recent comparable deals. For example, Marshal Shipping of the United Arab Emirates bought the Samsung Heavy Industries-built, 105,000-dwt Voyager C (built 2003) for $13.2m in March, according to VesselsValue.
Winson Shipping did not reply to requests for comment this week.
The Winson Group is best known for its bunkering operations and is listed with 19 small tankers up to 15,000 dwt.
But in 2017, the company expanded its fleet of elderly, larger tankers. In July that year, it bought the 153,000-dwt Front Ardenne (built 1997) from John Fredriksen’s Ship Finance International for $8m.
The previous month, it purchased the 311,000-dwt DS Commander (built 1999) from DS Tankers for $16.5m and renamed it Winson No 6.
The VLCC appears to have been sold on in an off-market deal and is trading as Sino Macro in the fleet of a company called Crystal Trench.
