Booming containership markets continue to spawn remarkable asset plays for owners with the luck or foresight to have bought such ships at the right time.

Tsakos Shipping & Trading, the Greek Tsakos family’s private arm, is said to be homing in on a $26m profit from the sale of the 3,398-teu Sphene (built 2007).

US brokers reported on Friday that undisclosed interests are buying the Hanjin Heavy Industries-built panamax boxship for $39m.