Polembros Shipping of Greece is to add another aframax tanker to its fleet of dry and liquid bulk carriers.

George Vakirtzis, managing director of the Athens-based family-owned company, confirms the purchase of Elia, a 115,400dwt tanker built in 2006 by Japanese shipyard Sanoyas.

"I can confirm that Polembros Shipping is the buyer of M/T Elia but unfortunately as the deal is private and owners have requested not to disclose the sale price I have to respect their request," he said.

The seller is Max Navigation, a Dutch company owned by the Italian Zacchello family, and the price should be in the range of US$34.5 and US$36m according to several market sources.

The head of Polembros further comments on the cited deal, saying, "Apart from our newbuilding program we are always in the market for quality secondhand tonnage and M/T Elia is meeting these criteria".