Idan Ofer has followed fellow shipping tycoon John Fredriksen into a holding in New York-listed International Seaways, revealing a 5.05% stake in a filing with US securities regulators on Wednesday.

The purchase of 2.48m shares by EPS Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ofer’s Quantum Pacific Shipping, is being labelled a passive holding in a portion of the filing.

“But that can change,” noted one ship-finance man on Wednesday.