The national shipping carrier of Saudi Arabia, Bahri, is likely to be the buyer of four very large crude carriers (VLCCs) from Korea Shipping, a subsidiary of South Korea’s SM Group.
According to South Korean media, SM Korea Shipping is in talks with Bahri for the sale of four VLCCs equipped with scrubbers.
The four VLCCS, SM White Whale 1 and SM White Whale 2 with 308,000 DWT and SM Venus 1 and SM Venus 2 with 297,700 DWT, were all built by Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) with deliveries in 2019 and 2020.
Because of the scrubbers, SM Korea Shipping is asking for a sale price of at least $120 million each, which means the total price of the four VLCCS would be more than $480 million.
However, the report said Bahri plans to pay $116 million for each VLCC, down from at least $120 million expected by SM Korea Shipping.
In addition to Bahri, Greek tanker operator Okeanis Eco Tankers and Oman Shipping, both under the Alafouzos family, also bid for the VLCCs, but they offered only $110 million, which was not competitive.
According to Greek shipbrokers, the asking price for the four-year-old VLCC was around $116 million.