Zodiac Maritime has acquired a fourth VLCC from Xihe Group, part of embattled tycoon Lim Oon Kuin’s collapsed business empire.
Market sources said Monaco-based Zodiac bought the Chinese-built, 318,000-dwt Jiu Hua San (built 2009) for almost $37m via the judicial manager of Xihe Holdings.
TradeWinds earlier reported Grant Thornton had put the vessel up for sale in late March.
Zodiac bought the 318,800-dwt Kun Lun San and Wu Tai San (both built 2011) from Xihe Capital and the 318,500-dwt Long Hu San (built 2013) from Xihe Holdings last year.
All four ships were constructed by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp.
The Xihe companies are part of Xihe Group, established by Lim to control maritime assets including vessels previously chartered to affiliate Ocean Tankers.
Lim had built an oil and shipping empire after founding Hin Leong in 1963. But the trading giant filed for bankruptcy during the Covid-19 pandemic and many of Lim’s companies have been liquidated or are now under judicial management.
Eyal Ofer's Zodiac saw the purchases of Xihe ships as “opportunistic deals” for “natural fleet growth and regeneration”, a source commented.
The shipowner has sold five aframaxes, one LR2 and one LR1 in recent quarters, most of them built in the 2000s.
“They think it’s the right timing [to buy] and right tonnage… Asset prices are going up,” the source said.
Surging market
The secondhand tanker market has seen increased activity in recent weeks as many experts believe freight rates are bottoming out.
Figures from Golden Destiny, a Piraeus-based brokerage, showed 77 tankers totalling 8.84m dwt changed hands for $1.15bn in April.
In comparison, 49 secondhand vessels with 5.15m dwt were sold for $805m in March.
China Merchants Energy Shipping earlier sold the 297,300-dwt VLCC tanker New Creation (built 2009) for $37.5m, an even higher price tag than what was reported for the Xihe ship.
“The Xihe sales are distressed… So I don’t consider them to be the ideal benchmark,” a London-based broker said. “We are on the low side of the price curves. It is good to buy tankers rather than sell them.
“There is a better sentiment for [secondhand ships]. It is purely about the expectation the market will improve. The current freight rates are not supporting this sentiment.”
Clarksons Platou Securities estimated spot VLCC earnings at $6,500 per day, suezmax at $6,400 and aframax at $8,100 on Friday. Those were below most owners’ all-in breakeven levels.
