Danish owner Norden has announced the acquisition of a pair of South Korean 2009-built MR product tankers.
The deal is consistent with broker reports which had listed Norden as the buyer of two vessels, owned by US-based Diamond S Shipping, for around $17m each. The vessels, Alpine Magic and Alpine Minute, will be renamed Nord Magic and Nord Minute.
The acquisition further expands Norden’s owned product tanker fleet by four vessels this year ahead of what it expects to be an improving market towards 2020.
Jan Rindbo, CEO of Nordern, commented: “While product tanker market conditions have suffered from oversupply and weak demand this year, we expect an improvement towards 2020. Recently, the crude tanker market has recovered strongly, oil price has declined to a 12-month low and oil inventories have been drawn significantly. This points to a recovery in demand for product tankers and improving market conditions. We therefore believe this purchase is a good opportunity to take advantage of the relatively low prices on tonnage now, to increase the capacity.”
Norden’s tanker fleet grows to 58 vessels, including chartered vessels, once the deal is completed.
