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Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has offloaded one of its elderly VLCCs – the company’s first supertanker sale in more than two years.
Multiple shipbroking sources have reported that the Tokyo-based shipping giant is letting go of the 2008 Kawasaki-built M Star to an undisclosed buyer for about $46.7m.
In July 2010, the same vessel was damaged by an explosion, which was later determined to be a terrorist attack, while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
According to S&P databases, MOL last sold a VLCC in March 2023. The 2005-built Yufusan was sold to China’s Polar Star Management for $52m and today sails as Seeker 8.
The largest shipping company in Japan in dwt terms is listed with more than 20 VLCCs, and six more LNG dual-fuelled newbuilds set to deliver from Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS) between 2025 and 2028.
More than 40 VLCC transactions have been reported year-to-date, either through S&P deals involving older ships or taking modern tonnage vessels out of leases.
Most recently, Maran Tankers, a unit of Greece’s Angelicoussis Shipping Group, offloaded its 2007-built 320,500 dwt Maran Canopus for a reported $50m, while another Greek owner, Okeanis Eco Tanker,s exercised options to take back three VLCCs built between 2020 and 2022 from CMB Financial Leasing.
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