Metrostar Management, a Greek shipping company owned by Theodore Angelopoulos, is accelerating its fleet expansion by re-entering the MR product tanker market through orders for new vessels from a South Korean shipyard.
According to fleet data on Metrostar Management’s official website, the company has ordered two 50,000 DWT MR product tankers from HD Hyundai Mipo (which has since merged into HD Hyundai Heavy Industries), with delivery expected in 2028. Shipping and market sources said the order was finalized during the Poseidon Maritime Exhibition.
In terms of newbuilds, Metrostar took delivery of three new vessels in 2025: two 75,000 DWT LR1 product tankers, the “M/T METRO MISTRAL” and the “M/T METRO LIVAS,” built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding; and and one 115,000 DWT LR2 oil tanker, the “M/T METRO VENETIAN,” built by HD Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding.
Since the beginning of this year, Metrostar has been active in the secondhand ship market, with transactions publicly reported in both the tanker and container ship markets.
Last month, Metrostar acquired a 160,250 DWT Suezmax tanker built in 2013, thereby repositioning itself in the Suezmax market. In October 2025, the owner had sold the last two Suezmax tankers in its fleet at the time to Delta Tankers, another Greek shipping company, thereby announcing its official exit from the Suezmax tanker sector—only to re-enter this market segment just six months later.
Earlier this year, Metrostar announced the acquisition of three 1,300-TEU feeder container ships built by a Chinese shipyard in 2008, marking its return to the container shipping sector after a 10-year hiatus.
According to its official website, Metrostar was founded in 1996 and is known for its strategic asset management in the tanker market, often selling ships under construction at a substantial premium. In 2012, the shipping company ordered 10 MR product tankers from a South Korean shipyard and sold them just two years later. Fleet data shows that, including two newbuilds, Metrostar currently owns 12 vessels, comprising three container ships and nine oil tankers.
So far this year, newbuilding activity for MR product tankers has been very active, both among Greek shipowners and in the shipbuilding market as a whole.
According to data from Xclusiv Shipbrokers, as of May 2026, global shipowners had contracted for 53 new MR product tankers, making them the third most popular tanker type after VLCCs and Suezmax tankers. In terms of deadweight tonnage, orders for MR-type product tankers currently account for approximately 16% of the global tanker fleet; they also account for 16% of Greece’s total tanker orders.