With profitable tanker sales at historic highs, and by reinvesting capital into newbuildings in strategic segments such as super tankers, Aegean Shipping Management is expanding and renewing its fleet.

These moves keep the company’s average fleet age under three years, one of the youngest fleets globally, while sharply increasing its carrying capacity, which – including vessels under construction – now reaches 2.5 million tons.

The company, controlled by Giorgos Melissanidis, has concluded two further successful transactions in recent days, spanning both vessel sales and new vessel orders, following the addition of a second Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) to its order book.

Vessels which, according to analysts, in light of the conflicts in the Arabian Gulf and the Black Sea, no longer constitute merely valuable maritime assets but also strategic instruments of geopolitical power.

The Sales

The company recently agreed to the sale of the LR2 tanker “Green Adventure,” built in 2022 at Cosco Yangzhou’s shipyards in China, for a price in the region of 83 million dollars. This is not the first sale at particularly high levels that Aegean has concluded this year. In early March, the company agreed to sell the aframax tanker “Green Attitude,” with a carrying capacity of 112,600 tons, built in 2018. According to shipbroker reports, the vessel was sold for 71 million dollars.

Newbuildings

Alongside its sales activity, Aegean is investing in the expansion of its fleet, extending beyond the LR2 segment into the super tanker market, the so-called VLCCs.

Specifically, the company exercised an option available to it for the construction of a second VLCC at the shipyards of Hengli Heavy Industry in China. The initial agreement between Aegean Shipping and Hengli was announced at the opening of Posidonia 2026 and marked the company’s entry into the VLCC category, a strategic move that broadens its business footprint in the seaborne crude oil transportation sector.

With this addition, Aegean has raised its total order at the world’s largest shipyard to three LR2 tankers (capable of carrying both crude oil and petroleum products) and two VLCC carriers, each capable of transporting up to 2 million barrels of crude. It should be noted that, in terms of investment planning, Aegean focuses exclusively on newbuilding orders. The company’s total mixed fleet currently stands at 21 vessels, comprising tankers and bulk carriers.

Newbuildings Deliveries

At the same time, the company is in a period of newbuilding tanker deliveries. In late July, it took delivery of the LR2 tanker “Green Liberty” at COSCO Yangzhou Shipyard. This is the first of four tankers that the company will progressively incorporate into its fleet over the coming months.

Aegean Shipping Management S.A. press release