In a nutshell, sales and purchase for dry bulk has been firm in January, hot for containers and sizzling for the largest tankers, the latter down to the plot hatched between the Apontes of Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and top management at Sinokor. It seems appropriate that the Aponte family who have come to dominate container shipping, are now proving the lynchpin in a changing of the guard at the top of the VLCC ownership charts. Sinokor’s remarkable hoovering up of available VLCC tonnage continued throughout January, the Korean name being attached to a host of tanker sales on multiple broking reports. The dramatic VLCC build-up over the past eight weeks is propelling the Korean owner to the top of the VLCC ownership charts, as well as creating a concentration of ownership among the six biggest names in the previously fragmented sector that has never been registered before. If all Sinokor’s targeted VLCC acquisitions come to fruition, Greece’s Allied Shipbroking is forecasting that the six largest VLCC owners in the world would collectively control close to 30% of the global fleet of 911 ships. The top six list, along with Sinokor, is made up of China Merchants, COSCO, Fredriksen, Bahri, and Angelicoussis Group, according to data from Allied. Brokers have been left dumbfounded at Sinokor’s market-altering decision to largely exit the container scene, selling most of its boxships to MSC, in favour of supertankers, paying over the odds for available VLCC tonnage, having secured more than 40 VLCCs in the past month and aiming to bag another 10 or so. Broker Gibson noted that most market players had been pegging 15-year-old VLCCs at around $59m to $60m during December, but Sinokor, keen to corner the market, has been paying 10-15% above these levels to commit sellers and lock down tonnage, in addition to a reported slew of time-charter extensions and new fixtures to major owners. As a result of Sinokor’s buying spree, VLCC values have soared over the past month, increasing across all age categories. For example, VesselsValue data shows 15-year-old vessels of 310,000 dwt have increased by 17.96% month-on-month from $52.85m to $70.27m. Latest VLCC deals include seven VLCCs from International Seaways, (Seaways Kilimanjaro, Seaways Raffles, Seaways Cape Henry, Seaways Liberty, Seaways Triton, Seaways Hendricks, Seaways Diamond Head), and three from Zodiac Maritime (Cyan Nova, Cobalt Nova and Blue Nova). Sinokor has also been busy in the charter market, fixing or extending ships for periods of one to three years’ time charter, taking its chartered-in VLCC fleet to above 40 units. Frontline, for instance, has just locked in one-year time charters for seven of its VLCCs at rates not seen in decades, with Sinokor identified as the likely taker of the tonnage. The New York- and Oslo-listed owner said the charters will run for 12 months, starting between late January and April 2026, at an average rate of $76,900 per day per vessel. “We are in unprecedented times, and these are charter-out levels not seen for decades,” said Frontline chief executive Lars Barstad. Calculations by broker Hartland suggest that Sinokor is now operating a VLCC fleet of close to 100 ships, giving it an 11% market share of tanker’s biggest vessels, and somewhere between 15% and 20% of the compliant, non-sanctioned fleet. In dry, prices for all tonnage classes have firmed throughout the month. Swiss trading house Mercuria Energy Group, controlled by Marco Dunand and Dani