Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) has found a buyer for a long-idled VLCC. The 2002-built Taizan has been sold for just $15.5m, according to Clarkson Research, with Greece’s Prominence Maritime understood to be the buyer.
Prominence Maritime is run by Ioanna Procopiou, the daughter of Dynacom’s George Procopiou, and her husband John Kairis.
The Japanese built VLCC was sold on the cheap – some $6m less than a similarly aged VLCC in May – as it had “well documented maintenance issues”, Clarkson Research noted, adding that this price should not be seen to be reflective of overall market conditions in the VLCC space.
“As such, the unit was marketed to both further trading and recycling buyers, and the price achieved represents a small premium to demolition levels (around low $15ms basis today),” Clarkson Research concluded.