Chemikalien Seetransport (CST) has sold its 20-year-old, 73,900 dwt LR1 tanker London Star to Chinese interests, leaving the Hamburg-based owner with a single LR1 on its fleet list — the equally aged Constellation. The New Century-built ship has already been renamed Tenyou, according to sales registers.

The deal marks the eleventh LR1 disposal by CST in two years. The Krämer family-backed group has been steadily unwinding its direct ownership of ageing tonnage while holding on to its role as a technical and commercial shipmanager. In plain terms: fewer steel and scrapyard risks on its own balance sheet, steady fee income from managing ships for others.

London Star sat under Norwegian shipowning vehicle Partankers XXIV AS, in which Krämer interests hold a significant shareholding. That structure let CST keep commercial control while sharing the asset risk. The sale unwinds another slice of that exposure.

What does this change for the LR1 market?

Plenty, if you read the parallel deals. Secondhand LR1 values are firm, and owners with older ships are cashing out rather than paying for drydockings and surveys on 20-year-old hulls. CST's exit is the cleanest example: a fleet that once ran multiple LR1s now runs one.

Last week, Larine Tankers — linked to the Odfjell family — was reported to have sold its two 2016-built LR1 product tankers, Bluebird and Starling, for a combined $110m. That transaction cleared out Larine's entire fleet.

The buyer has not been formally identified. Brokers point towards UAE interests, though Turkish names circulate in market talk — including suggestions that Yasa Holding could be weighing a return to the secondhand tanker market. None of that is confirmed.

Why owners are selling now

The mechanism is simple. Firm secondhand prices mean a 20-year-old LR1 fetches more today than its earnings profile over the remaining trading life might justify — especially with regulatory upgrades and inspection regimes biting harder on vintage tonnage. Sell, bank the cash, keep the management contract if you can. CST appears to have done exactly that.

For charterers and product traders, the shift matters in one concrete way: well-known German names are disappearing from the LR1 owner ranks, and the ships are migrating towards buyers in the Gulf, China and Turkey. Counterparty quality, vetting and commercial terms may look different next time an LR1 is fixed.

For CST itself, the path is a managed retreat from asset ownership. One LR1, the Constation's sister in age, remains. Whether that ship stays on the list for long is the obvious question, and the two-year pattern of disposals suggests an answer.

The broader LR1 segment shows no sign of cooling. With $110m changing hands for two seven-year-old units and Chinese buyers absorbing 20-year-old tonnage, the secondhand window remains open — until values or freight soften enough to close it.