A suezmax deal concluded last week already looks well-timed amid a rapidly shifting geopolitical backdrop. Two years ago, UAE-based VLKR Ship Management acquired the 156,000 dwt Karvounis (built 2013, Sumitomo), paying $67.5m for the scrubber-fitted Japanese unit and renaming it Sigrun. The vessel has now changed hands again, for roughly $2m less. Clarksons noted in its weekly report that despite lacking an electronic main engine, the premium achieved reflected the vessel’s Japanese build and prompt delivery, allowing the new owner to capitalise immediately on firm chartering conditions. Greek player Naftomar is tied to the deal. The tanker is currently anchored off Limassol, Cyprus — far from the Middle East Gulf — but the timing of the resale may prove prescient. Escalating disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil and tanker markets sharply higher. Several suzemax spot rates are now reported fixed on sub at over $300,000 per day, loading from the Persian Gulf and going east. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsGreece