Concordia Maritime announced the sale of three vessels, reducing its fleet by nearly half.

The company said it has entered into an agreement for the sale of three of its 65,200 dwt product tankers, Stena Primorsk, Stena Performance, and Stena Provence.

All the vessels were built in 2006 making them the oldest in the company’s remaining fleet and all are operating under long-term time charters. The buyer is based in Europe and delivery is expected to take place during the fourth quarter of 2022.

“The sale of the vessels is made primarily to take advantage of the increased ship valuations,” said Erik Lewenhaupt, CEO of Concordia Maritime. “We are now seeing a massive interest in second-hand tonnage. The tanker market is cyclical and our business model includes both purchases and sales of vessels. Here, timing is absolutely crucial. Right now, we are getting paid very well for our oldest ships,” he said.