A quartet of suezmax tankers operated by Navig8 may have found a buyer.
The four ships being offered for sale, all built at Hyundai Heavy Industries, are the 159,200-dwt Cape Bonny, Cape Bari, Cape Bastia and Cape Brindisi (all built 2005).
They used to be in the fleet of Germany’s Konig & Cie, which was taken over in 2016 by rival HCI Capital.
According to brokers in Athens and London, they have already been inspected by potential buyers, including Greek names such as Avin International.
Some sources even said a deal has been struck for the vessels, at $18.5m each, with Cypriot owner Transmed Shipping as the buyer.
However other sources familiar to the negotiations said a deal has not been concluded and the reported buyer is not involved in the current talks.
Negotiations are also understood to also be at higher price levels than reported.
Mylonas family-controlled Transmed has been active as a pure-play bulker owner in recent years. It seems, however, to be pivoting to tankers lately.
Last October, the company purchased the 319,900-dwt ore-oiler F Whale (renamed Atherina, built 2011).
A month later, Transmed was linked to the purchase of the Hyundai-built, 151,800-dwt suezmax European Spirit (built 2003).
The European Spirit has been trading since December as Zeno. Online reference sources such as Equasis do not directly confirm a link to Transmed.
They are listing the ship under the technical management of Singapore’s Goodwood Ship Management and feature Zeno International Shipping, a Liberian one-ship company, as its registered owner.
Transmed, however, likes to name some of its ships after Stoic philosophers — members of an ancient school of thought founded by the Cyprus-born Zeno of Citium. Two bulkers in its fleet are called Seneca and Epictetus.
This article has been updated since first publication to include additional guidance on the progress of the transaction.
