The tanker S&P market remains active, with vintage tonnage still dominating broker columns. The focus now has switched from VLCCs to smaller sizes, with suezmaxes being the most popular sales candidates. A string of prominent owners have been making fortunes flipping ships that have only been with them for months.
In the suezmax segment, Dubai-based, Lila Global, Anil Sharma’s shipowning arm, has let go of the 2004-built Lila Shenzhen for $25m, a ship Sharma had bought in April for just $16.5m.
The same-aged Valtamed, owned by Norway’s Sole Shipping, has found new owners in a deal reported to be worth $26m.
Another asset player worth noting is Greece’s Prime Marine, which has sold the 2009-built, 75,000 dwt LR tanker Liberty. The STX-built vessel was snapped up for $15 m in March and has now been sold for $23m. The ship is already renamed Apate and registered as owned by a new outfit called Fractal Shipping based in Geneva.
The search for elderly targets to move cargoes in the much-altered tanker trading world following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen tanker prices leap for a number of months.
