Maran Tankers of the Angelicoussis Group is returning to super tanker shipbuilding, which, according to international shipbuilding platforms, appears to have signed a contract with the South Korean shipbuilding group Hanwha Ocean for the construction of four VLCCs, for approximately 515 million dollars in total.
The company, which is the arm that manages the tankers of the group, which is led by Maria Angelicoussis, in recent years had focused on the construction of Suezmax type ships (150,000 tons), having an ongoing shipbuilding program that includes 11 Suezmax, of which three are DP shuttle tankers.
The last VLCC received was the “Antonis I Angelicoussis”, which was the first tanker to have duel fuel (LNG) engines and which was certified by the Green Award Foundation.
It was followed by the sister VLCCs “Maria A. Angelicoussis”, “Maran Danae” and “Maran Dione”.
Maran Tankers currently has 40 tankers in the water, according to the company’s website.
At the same time as the newbuildings, Maran Tankers is disinvesting in its older ships, having sold a total of nine since August 2022.
The last deal was in October, when the Singapore-based Yinson Production company bought the 317,000 dwt “Maran Antares”, built at Daewoo shipyards in 2012, for 80 million dollars.
However, interest in building new VLCCs is also increasing due to the effects of geopolitical tensions and sanctions imposed mainly on Russia (for the war in Ukraine), but also on Iran.
At the same time, the global VLCC fleet amounts to 908 ships, of which over 35% are over 16 years old.
Fares on the rise
VLCC carrier charter rates have soared in 2025, reaching their highest level in five years, while the latest sanctions against Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil are expected to worsen the situation.
According to data published by Kpler, about 48 million barrels of crude oil from Rosneft and Lukoil are currently either at sea or in the process of being loaded onto ships.
This includes about 50 tankers bound for China and India, as well as others bound for smaller ports, scattered from the Baltic to the South China Sea, which are not expected to be able to reach their destinations.
Freight rates for VLCCs reached 137,000 dollars per day last week, a 576% increase since the beginning of the year.
This is the highest level since late April 2020 and exceeds the recent market peak recorded two weeks ago.
The average VLCC index reached 116,400 dollars per day, also a new five-year high.
The new increase in charter costs for supertankers occurred on Sunday, almost immediately after US sanctions came into effect last Friday, forcing buyers, especially in India and China, to turn to other suppliers.
Source: Naftemporiki