Tankers that in previous cycles would have become extinct are being pressed into action for ever longer periods with valuations for vintage tonnage smashing records.
Broker Gibson has news of a new record paid for a 2007-built suezmax.
“Not quite a fossil but it is quite astounding what some of these older ladies are achieving on price as we hear this week the Raptor has gone for a whopping $46.5m to Chinese buyers; that has to be the firmest price for a 17-year-old suezmax, ever,” Gibson noted in its most recent weekly report. The ship was owned by Greece’s Roswell Tankers and had been trading in Navig8’s pool prior to being sold. Roswell had picked up the tanker 15 months ago for just $34m.
has gone for a whopping $46.5m to Chinese buyers; that has to be the firmest price for a 17-year-old suezmax, ever,” Gibson noted in its most recent weekly report. The ship was owned by Greece’s Roswell Tankers and had been trading in Navig8’s pool prior to being sold. Roswell had picked up the tanker 15 months ago for just $34m.Suezmaxes are the crude tanker type most impacted by the ongoing Red Sea crisis with McQuilling recently forecasting the sector’s 2024 TCEs would stand at a very robust $50,200 a day, basis eco tankers without scrubbers.
Secondhand suezmax prices have soared in the two years since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
A five-year-old suezmax was valued at $47m in February 2022, while currently, it costs around $83m, according to Greek brokers Xclusiv. Ten and 15-year-old asset prices have more than doubled. Furthermore, during the last four-month period suezmax prices have gained momentum, with the five-year and 10-year old values being 12% and 14% up respectively.
Clarksons data shows that 2.8% of the global tanker fleet is now over 25 years old. A month prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, that figure stood at 1.8%.
