Atlantis Acquires Tanker Duo
Image Courtesy: Atlantis TankersTurkish shipping company Atlantis Tankers bought Ionian Trader and Lydian Trader, two small-sized chemical tankers, from the Greek-based Enterprises Shipping and Trading on December 23, 2016.
Ionian Trader was purchased for USD 7.19 million and Lydian Trader for USD 7.1 million, VesselsValue’s data shows.
The handover of the vessels is expected to take place in the next 45 days and the tankers will be renamed to Atlantis Arki and Atlantis Araceli, according to the company.
The duo will be taken under the technical and crewing management of Armona Denizcilik, and will be commercially managed by Atlantis Tankers.
The 5,500 dwt ships were built by Turkish KGS in 2008, a joint venture (JV) between Ares Tankers and Galatasaray Holding at Celik Tekne Shipyard. The JV intended to sell all of six sister ships to another 50-50 JV between Norwegian ship owner Mowinckels Rederi and Turkish ship manager Ares.
“After delivering the first four vessels: Lycian, Ionian, Lydian and Hada, Mowinckels’ appetite for the remaining two became obsolete due to the Lehmann-crisis. Thus the fifth and sixth ship remained with KGS and are managed by Ares Tankers Management as RC Behar and Hitra,” Atlantis Tankers said.
The four joint venture ships were financed by a consortium of Nordea and Deutsche Bank. However, the JV ran into financial problems which brought the Norwegian/Turkish partnership to separate, leaving the ships with Mowinckels. The lenders sought new buyers and sold all four vessels in 2012.
The first tanker duo was sold to Borealis Maritime, while the other two vessels, Lydian and Ionian, were sold to Restis’ company: Enterprises Shipping and Trading.
