Investors are backing a new joint venture between a New Jersey vessel manager and a New York merchant bank that allows a closed-end trading play on the crude tanker market.

The new fund, called Mjolner Solutions, is a collaboration of manager Mjolner Shipping and maritime-focused bank Mid-Ship Capital. It plans to trade tankers from VLCCs down to panamaxes.

Against a backdrop in which many investors have booked paper or actual losses buying crude tankers over the past five years, Mjolner is offering an “asset-light” chance to play on rates with reduced risk over a fixed 3.5