South Korea’s HMM is spending some of its box riches bolstering its VLCC arm. Brokers report HMM has bought two three-year-old VLCCs from Singapore’s Sentek Marine, paying $185m en bloc for the pair of scrubber-fitted, 300,000 dwt ships, which come with an undisclosed time charter attached. The Hyundai Samho-built tankers are named Neptune M, and Pacific M.
Three months ago HMM bought the C Guardian VLCC for $98m, and followed this up swiftly with a $108m purchase for another VLCC, G. Dream, fresh from the slipway.
Secondhand VLCC prices have been rising for months. The Baltic Exchange on Friday pushed up its five-year-old VLCC prices to $90.6m. Year-to-date, VLCC five-year values have surged by 25.2%.
