A string of speculative small Chinese owners is emerging as takers of vintage VLCCs sold in the last couple of months.
Some 20 tanker giants have had their name repainted and their flag changed since April.
VesselsValue has identified some of the new names in the segment.
Veraniega Shipping is listed as being behind the 18-year-old, 319,000 Isaiah. This appears to be a debut to shipowning for the Hong Kong-registered outfit that was set up in March.
Another Chinese player entering the segment is Bon Trading who is behind the purchase of a similar aged vintage unit called Penta, sold by NMG Energy. This company entered the tanker segment in 2020 and has since added an aframax and a suezmax from Socar.
Another Hong Kong-registered outfit that has doubled its fleet size is Impala Shipping, adding its second VLCC in a year grabbing, the Carina V from Maran Tankers.
The fourth Chinese company identified as an active bidder in the vintage VLCC segment is another young outfit called Wenling Chang An Shipping, noted as the taker of the 2004-built Starlight Venture sold by U-Ming in the middle of May.
