Saudi shipping company Bahri agrees to buy nine VLCCs for $1 bil

Saudi shipping company Bahri has agreed to buy nine "modern eco scrubber" VLCCs for about $1 billion, with the first deliveries of the very large crude carriers expected before the end of the first quarter of 2025.

The seller, Greece-based Capital Maritime & Trading, will deliver the VLCCs in "multiple batches" as Bahri's fleet is modernized, Bahri said in an Aug. 20 statement to Saudi stock exchange. The ships will replace older VLCCs in Bahri's fleet and are expected to reduce operating expenses, it said.

Bahri currently has 40 VLCCs, out of a fleet of 92 ships, according to its website. It carries out the purchase, sale and operation of ships transporting oil, refined products, chemicals and dry bulk.

The nine ships are secondhand, a Capital Maritime & Trading official said by email.

"Capital agreed to sell nine of its most modern and energy efficient VLCCs, all of them ordered by Capital to the highest specification or traded since delivery ex-yard to Bahri," the official said. "Capital remains committed to the tanker market with its existing fleet in the water and on order of an additional 31 tankers ranging from VLCC to MR tankers."

The nine VLCCs will be used by the Bahri oil transport unit to deliver crude oil cargoes to customers, Bahri said. Its oil business's primary cargo load region is the Persian Gulf market, but it is also present across all major global VLCC routes. It is the exclusive transporter of Saudi Aramco VLCC crude cargoes sold on a delivered basis around the world.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the dirty Arab Gulf-China route at $13.67 per metric ton on Aug. 19, up from $12.69/t at the end of last year.

"The main purpose of this acquisition is to enable... [the] streamlining [of] the process of phasing out older [ships] in the fleet going forward," Bahri said.