Asyad and MOL cash in $63m for 15-year-old LR2 tanker Haima

Asyad Shipping and Mitsui OSK Lines have sold their jointly owned LR2 product tanker Haima for OMR24.3m ($63.2m), the Muscat-listed Omani owner disclosed — roughly $573,000 per year of the 2009-built vessel's life. The deal extends Asyad's campaign to monetise ageing tonnage while it funds an aggressive newbuilding programme.

What does the sale deliver financially?

The transaction is expected to generate a gain of approximately OMR19m ($49.4m) at joint venture level, Asyad said. The Omani group's 50% share amounts to OMR9.5m ($24.7m), subject to final closing adjustments and accounting treatment.

Haima, a 110,077 dwt tanker held through a 50:50 joint venture with the Japanese giant MOL, has been part of the company's fleet since construction. The buyer has not been named, and completion is expected during the second half of November.

For a fifteen-year-old ship to command $63.2m, the sale lands in a market where second-hand product tanker values have held firm on the back of strong earnings. The unnamed buyer pays for a vessel that has already served its first owner through an entire lifecycle.

How does this fit Asyad's wider sell-off?

The latest disposal follows Asyad's September agreement to sell three older tankers for a combined OMR68.44m ($178m). That package involved:

• the 2011-built VLCCs Seeb and Samail;
• the 2008-built MR tanker Al Amerat.

Taken together, the four disposals since September have grossed the Omani owner and its partners roughly OMR92.7m — about $241m — from ships with an average age of well over a decade. Asyad has been recycling that capital from older ships into a substantial fleet expansion programme.

The company has said it will continue evaluating disposals of older vessels as part of its fleet renewal programme, signalling that Haima and the September trio are unlikely to be the last exits.

Where is the money going?

The reinvestment is already visible in Korean yards. Asyad's recent investments include eight MR product tanker newbuildings at HD Hyundai, all backed by five-year charter arrangements, as well as additional VLCCs at Hanwha Ocean.

The charter cover matters commercially. Five-year fixed arrangements on the MR series mean the new tonnage arrives with revenue locked in, cushioning Asyad against any softening in product tanker rates while the older, unencumbered assets convert to cash. For MOL, the joint venture exit on Haima trims one aged asset from its product tanker exposure at a strong price point.

For counterparties in the second-hand market, the message is that quality fifteen-to-seventeen-year-old tonnage is trading at levels once reserved for much younger ships — and a willing seller remains in the market.

What comes next?

With completion of the Haima sale due in the second half of November, Asyad's fleet renewal cycle — cash out of old steel, into Korean newbuilds with committed employment — looks set to continue shaping its balance sheet into 2025 and beyond.