“There has never been a tanker market like this”.

This is how a shipping executive in Piraeus described the state of the secondhand market on Tuesday, after news of yet another landmark S&P deal trickled out.

Major Greek owner Diamantis Diamantides has shaken out the oldest ships in his fleet of 32 tankers.

The quartet of 18-year-old aframaxes fetched $35m apiece, according to ship management sources and brokers in Athens.