Elite Tankships has expanded its tanker fleet to five vessels with the addition of two medium range product tankers sourced from the time charter market.
Chief executive Mangish Kakodkar told Tradewinds that the plan is to play the spot market with them.
“The markets in the Far east over last two months have been the worst in the last decade which also allowed us to take vessels at a competitive rate,” he said.
Kakodkar did not reveal the duration of the charters or the time-charter rates.
Singapore-based tanker market sources identified the vessels as the 50,500-dwt Vinalines Galaxy (built 2006) and Vinalines Glory (built 2007).
Both SPP Shipbuilding-built vessels are owned by Vietnam’s Vinalines, and have recently been operated on short charters to large international oil majors and oil traders.
Elite Tankships was in formed in January as joint venture between Kakodkar and Singapore’s Essential Capital, owned by oil trading veteran Hon Kim Weng.
The company has positioned itself as a charterer and commercial manager of tankers, with the ships under its control adopting a blend of long and short term trading positions.
In addition to the two Vinalines vessels that are about to join its fleet, Elite operates the Essential Capital-owned 51,200-dwt medium range product tanker Jade Blossom (built 2006), and the 109,700-dwt LR product tankers Kapten Carooq and Aquanus (both built 2006).
The two LR2 tankers are owned by Indonesia’s Buana Lintas Lautan (BULL), but are operated by Elite via charters to MK Shipping & Trading, a company Kakodkar formed after leaving AG Shipping & Energy in 2019.
