Nasdaq-listed Greek owner Castor Maritime has made another big move in the secondhand market with a $49.25m deal to acquire five Korean-built tankers.
Castor has acquired two 2006-built MR1s, two 2004-built aframax/LR2s and a single 2002-built aframax/LR2 from an unnamed party, which Splash understands to be Eletson Corp. Delivery is scheduled in the second quarter.
Petros Panagiotidis, chief executive officer of Castor, commented: “We are excited to announce our largest purchase transaction thus far, with the en bloc acquisition of five tankers. Since our entry into the tanker market earlier this year, we have managed to swiftly grow our tanker fleet to eight vessels.
“Upon completion of all our recently announced acquisitions, our fleet will consist of twenty-three vessels, establishing our Company with a diverse fleet of fifteen bulkers and eight tankers. This diversification allows us to pursue attractive opportunities across different shipping sectors.”
Castor’s fleet of 23 vessels is likely to grow further in the near future, with brokers last week linking the company to the acquisition of five more ships.
That’s wonderful company acquiring more ships but as they do stock seems to drop do they think it will ever start to return or increase