Tufton takes fleet to 23 with Marinakis tankers buy

Tufton Oceanic Assets has acquired a pair of secondhand product tankers, taking its fleet to 23 vessels.

The London-listed fund has picked up the 2016-built Alkaios and Archon from Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Ship Management, paying $73m.

Both vessels have fixed-rate time charters for three to five years with commodity trading giant Trafigura.

Tufton said it would finance the deal with a new $60m loan, secured by the two vessels being acquired and two product tankers acquired earlier this year, of which one will also enter into a fixed rate time charter for three to five years with Trafigura from November.

The acquisition is expected to close in mid-November and the company said it expects to repay the loan over three to five years depending on the charter coverage of the four vessels at the relevant time.