Norden offloads MR2 tanker acquired last year

Danish shipping company Dampskibsselskabet Norden A/S has wrapped up the sale of product tanker Nord Andes.

The 50,000 dwt MR2 tanker was sold to an undisclosed buyer in China for $21 million, data provided by VesselsValue shows.

The sale comes just ten months after the 2011-built vessel was purchased by Norden in December 2019. The move is said to reflect Norden’s strategy to be an asset-trading company.

“We are driven by the opportunities we see in the market to continuously optimise our fleet,” Jan Rindbo, CEO of Norden, commented.

“Having generated excellent revenues on the vessel during a strong market, we have now sold Nord Andes at roughly the same level as the purchase price, which is an agile asset trade within just 10 months.”

The tanker market experienced a significant spike in earnings in the first half of 2020 due to increased demand for floating storage, generating strong returns for Norden.

“We bought the vessel late last year with the expectation of a stronger tanker market throughout 2020,” Henrik Lykkegaard Madsen, Head of Asset Management at Norden, said.

“The upturn was in-fact much steeper and shorter than expected. We have been able to capture the upside in the market and make very good returns on this vessel during the short period we owned it.”