Fleet changes thru 12/22/25

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Broker Carriers has some transactions reported

  • Pair of Suezmax tankers sold by SFL
  • Pair of LR2s sold by STNG

A separate announcement from Nordic American Tankers (NAT) indicating they are also selling a pair of Suezmax vessels, a 2004-build and a 2005-build. Since NAT have indicated plans for a pair of newbuild orders, the proceeds from the sale (both vessels unencumbered) can go towards the down payment of the newbuilds.

Going back to SFL, their two vessels were actually a set of four vessels serving the same charter. Interestingly, the sold vessels are Chinese built, and the retained vessels are South Korean built.

I would have to go dig into SFL prior announcements, but it sounds like the deal was structured as a Sales-&-Leaseback, and for whatever reason, the charterer opted to reacquire two of the vessels. In some ways, this transaction is a plus for SFL. Extra cash is helpful when the company is somewhat squeezed, and has an idle expensive drilling rig, that adds more stress to the books.

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Since I had a reference year (2022), it wasn’t difficult to track down the Press release that discusses the acquisition -

Interestingly, this wasn’t as big a surprise as the purchase terms had indicated the charters could be terminated earlier. What is interesting is that SFL paid an avg of $56M per vessel, used each vessel for 3 - 3.5 years, and sells a pair of the vessels for $57M - That is indeed good business.