Performance Shipping Inc., a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of tanker vessels, announced that it has signed, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement to purchase the M/T Fos Hamilton, a 105,408 dwt LR2 Aframax oil product tanker vessel built in 2013 by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. – Ulsan, South Korea, from an unaffiliated third party for a gross purchase price of US$43.75 million. The M/T Fos Hamilton is equipped with an eco-electronic engine, achieving higher energy efficiency and improved emissions by reducing fuel consumption. The vessel also complies with the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention protecting marine ecosystems from species transfer. The vessel is expected to be delivered to the Company in mid-December 2022 and will be renamed M/T P. Long Beach.
The Company expects to finance the aforementioned acquisition with cash proceeds from the previously announced sale of the Company’s oldest vessel, M/T P. Fos, and the incurrence of debt through a new senior secured facility that it anticipates it will enter into prior to the delivery of the vessel.
Commenting on the agreement, Andreas Michalopoulos, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, stated:
“The acquisition of our second LR2 Aframax tanker, which has a green engine and is also BWTS fitted, marks our Company’s further step towards establishing a solid position in the refined petroleum product tanker sector, which we believe has strong, sustainable fundamentals and prospects. Upon delivery of the two recently acquired tankers, anticipated to take place in December, and the concurrent sale of the oldest vessel in our fleet, our fleet has now nearly doubled in size and will consist of eight modern, high specification Aframax tankers with an average age of 11.6 years. With a solid base of lucrative secured revenues of approximately US$85 million, we intend to enhance the earnings of our expanded and renewed fleet with spot charters mainly through pool agreements thereby enabling us to capture the strong prevailing market conditions and generate significant cash flow moving forward.”
Source: Performance Shipping Inc.
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