State-controlled Sovcomflot (SCF), Russia's largest shipping company, has sold 10 vessels this year — eight oil tankers and two dry cargo carriers.
The combined $112mn of proceeds from the sales will be used to finance SCF's fleet renewal programme and new projects, the company says. SCF plans to add seven crude and product tankers to its fleet in 2022-23 — it now owns 109 oil tankers, 16 LNG carriers and 11 specialised vessels.
The oil tankers sold include two 25,000-45,000t Medium Range products carriers, two Aframaxes and two Suezmaxes — it also sold two Panamaxes, but details of the vessels are not provided. The sales of the NS Energy and NS Yakutia mark the company's withdrawal from the "non-core dry bulk segment", SCF says.
The company's profits slumped to $7.31mn in the second quarter from $110.3mn in April-June 2020, pressured by persistent, relatively low tanker rates. "The temporary seasonal [rise] in Aframax rates in March-April was insufficient to support the conventional tanker fleet's half-year results," SCF says.
But "the return of more normal refining activity should trigger additional tanker demand in the second half of this year and rates could rise".
| SCF vessel sales, 1H 21 | ||||
| Vessel | New name | New operator/owner | Year built | dwt |
| Products carriers | ||||
| Anichkov Bridge | Vaughan | Legacy Ship Management | 2003 | 47,842 |
| Hermitage Bridge | Lady Tyna | Indo Gulf Ship Management | 2003 | 47,880 |
| Oil tankers | ||||
| Governor Farkhutdinov | Sargazo | Flourich Marine | 2004 | 108,078 |
| Kaluga | Majestic | Prospect Ship Managenet | 2003 | 115,707 |
| SCF Caucasus | Bear Alcor | Imza Denizcilik Insaat Turizm | 2002 | 159,173 |
| SCF Sayan | Bear Mizar | Imza Denizcilik Insaat Turizm | 2002 | 159,184 |
| Bulk cargo ships | ||||
| NS Energy | Egor Letov | Rostrum Fleet Management | 2012 | 74,518 |
| NS Yakutia | Viktor Tsoi | SCF Management Services Dubai | 2013 | 74,559 |
| — shipping agents | ||||
