Aframaxes dominate tanker sales

Aframaxes sales are filling up broking reports at an increasing rate as sanctions rain in.

So far this year, about 10 ships have been reported sold in the aframax segment, tankers that reportedly are being sold charter-free, based on prompt delivery.

One of the latest sales involves Greek account IMS, which is reportedly more than doubling its money selling their 2008-built, 106,00 dwt Nemo, noted sold for $37m to Chinese buyers, $7m more than pricing portal VesselsValue sets the market value for this ship. The ship was added for $16m four years ago from Teekay Tankers.

Speculation surrounds the sale status of several deals booked in reports. Ships connected to Singapore’s Synergy Marine and advertised for sale with early charter-free delivery are two Korean-built tankers, the 116,100 dwt tankers, Amax Anthem (built 2011) and Amax Avenue (built 2010). These ships have reportedly been sold for $39.5m each. 

Another famous player working out of Singapore is Idan Ofer. His Eastern Pacific Shipping is reported attempting to offload the 15-year-old scrubber-fitted Kara Sea for $37m. 

Another significant player selling is Harry Vafias’s Stealth Maritime who is widely reported letting go of the 17-year-old, Chinese-built, 113,000 dwt Crude Centurion for $33 m.  

Chatter also surrounds a string of Japanese-built units, the 105,400 dwt Sofia II (2008), selling for $31m, sold by Flynn Ventures, while the slightly bigger one year older 110,000 dwt Mitsui-built Sea Falcon is noted sold for $30.5m. This ship was sold by Pantheon Tankers.

Spring Marine has also reportedly sold its second aframax in months, finding a Chinese buyer for the 2013-built, 104,000 dwt Lambada with a price tag of $30.3m attached to this deal.

The first aframax sale reported this year was between Kyklades Maritime and Dhaka-listed MJL Bangladesh. MJL Bangladesh tabled $45.3m for the 12-year-old Nissos Delos.