Vietnam’s Viet My Petrol Transportation has been linked to the sale of its final VLCC, marking an exit from tanker shipping.
Brokers reported the 318,700-dwt Gold Pearl (built 2005) has gone for $29.5m to undisclosed interests.
The South Korean-built tanker is valued at $36m by VesselsValue, illustrating again how vintage VLCC prices have crashed as sanctions and shadow fleet saturation hit the market for older ships.
The Gold Pearl was bought in November 2022 as the Seaking from Thenamaris of Greece for $51.5m with a special survey due.
In January, Viet My offloaded its other VLCC, the 308,800-dwt, scrubber-fitted Rolin (built 2005), to an unknown buyer for $30.5m.
VesselsValue assessed the Samsung Heavy Industries-built tanker as worth $36.5m.
The Rolin has been renamed the T Cereal under the ownership of Young Honest Shipping in Hong Kong.
The tanker’s value peaked at $56m in April 2023.
Greece’s Eastern Mediterranean Shipping ordered it in 2002 as the Adventure and sold it in February 2023 to Viet My for $52.5m.
The tanker changed its name to Caroline in March 2023 and to Rolin in December of that year.
Viet My, which could not be contacted, was set up in 2021 in Hanoi.
It retains the 4,013-cbm LPG carrier Venus Gas (built 1996).
Eva Tzima, head of research and valuation at Seaborne Shipbrokers, said that despite the contradictory news on the outlook for oil demand, secondhand market appetite for tankers is warming up again.
She noted “a few enquiries” for modern crude tonnage emerging in recent days, possibly reflecting the slow yet steady increase of worthwhile investing opportunities that the sector might have to offer further ahead, even as reading the markets is becoming increasingly difficult.