South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine is staying active in the secondhand market with another play in the VLCC sector.
The South Korean shipowner has been named as the buyer of three ships that Belgian tanker giant Euronav announced as sold last week.
Brokers are reporting a deal for an en bloc purchase of the 2008-built 307,284 dwt Nectar, the 2009-built 307,208 dwt Newton, and the 2008-built 307,284 dwt Noble for around $155m.
Sinokor has been hoovering up VLCC tonnage with eight ships bought this year while taking advantage of the surge in secondhand bulker prices to cash in on modern newcastlemaxes.
Earlier this year, the Seoul-headquartered company picked up five VLCCs built in 2009 and 2010 from John Fredriksen’s Frontline for $290m and most recently offloaded three newcastlemaxes to compatriot Pan Ocean at $71m each, after paying $51m per newbuild in 2018.
