Greece’s Capital Maritime and Trading is reportedly offloading one of its five very large crude carriers as analysts project orders in this segment to significantly pick up this year.
Multiple brokers are reporting Evangelos Marinakis-controlled owner fetching $80m for the 2014 Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding-built 320,900 dwt Miltiadis Junior, corresponding to today’s prices for similar tonnage.
, corresponding to today’s prices for similar tonnage.The buyer of the former Shanghai Spirit, picked up by Capital as a resale from Wah Kwong Shipping for nearly $89m in 2013, has yet to be revealed.
The disposal of the scrubber-fitted VLCC that has operated in Heidmar’s Sea Dragon pool follows the news that Marinakis has lined up up to six 300,000 dwt LNG dual-fuel VLCCs for construction at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC). The first four units should deliver between 2026 and 2027 and are understood to cost about $140m each. The last time he signed up for VLCCs was in 2017 when his Capital Ship Management contracted for four ships at Samsung Heavy in South Korea.
The VLCC orderbook stood at a near historical low of 23 ships, or 2.6% of the trading fleet, at the end of 2023, but US shipbroking outfit Poten & Partners estimates this number to more than double in 2024.
