Nordic American Tankers (NAT) has had a busy month of March.
It might be subtle, but I think there is/was a point in mentioning the yard and prior ownership (two non-Chinese built vessels added to the fleet). I think NAT generally buys South Korean made vessels. So no change from that perspective.
Is $60M a lot for an 8 - 9 year old Suezmax? In prior years, maybe. But older tanker vessels have held their value in more recent years. If one prices the sister vessel at an equivalent price, NAT added $120M of asset value to a company with market cap of $500M during the month of March 2025.
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Any indication if the higher value is a consequence of older vessels being used in the “shadow fleet” that clandestinely carry Russian petroleum products?
ralph
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The “shadow fleet” might be carrying mostly Russian oil (both clean and dirty). But, it is also carrying oil for other countries - Iran, Venezuela. Definitely, I think the Ukraine-Russia war and the change in end-points for Russian cargoes is a major factor. But, I don’t think the only factor. Even prior to the Ukraine-Russia war, traders were willing to pay for older vessels rather than the vessels ending up in a scrapyard (or scrap-beach, in the case of Asian demolition cases). My point being, some of the older vessels would likely still be involved in the shipping side, even after the vessels was older than 15 years (or had completed its third dry dock)
Or take the one-off vessels trade. I am talking about INSW’s transaction in late 2024 where the company swapped two older VLCCs for 3 MRs (slightly newer). I haven’t dug deep enough on that deal, but I believe, at least one of those VLCCs was still modern (under 15 years old). On the scrap metric, the VLCCs owner would definitely come out way ahead of the MRs owner.
And now there is an additional factor that might come into play for a subset of vessels. If the US administration’s China-built vessels policy goes into effect, vessels built in other locations i.e. South Korea, Japan, might trade for a longer time frame. There are other ship-building countries e.g. India, Philippines, Vietnam but those have generally been in the last decade or so.
If you take three publicly traded players with > 15 Suezmax vessels - NAT, TNK & FRO, Q4 2024 avg for their Suezmax vessels (daily avg)
NAT $26.5K (7 of 20 older than 15 yrs, 3 older than 20 yo)
TNK $28.5K (12 of 22 older than 15 yrs
FRO $33K (22 Suezmax, all modern)
Excluded Okeanis (ECO) with a fleet of 6 Suezmax (ECO, scrubber-fitted, each under 10 yrs old)? Their Suezmax daily avg was $39.6K
), NAT quietly announced another vessel acquisition