Stelmar Reports 1Q Results

Stelmar Shipping Ltd. announced operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2002. For the first quarter, the Company reported net income of $7,962,000, or $0.67 per basic share, compared with $3,970,000 or $0.72 per basic share, for the first quarter of 2001. The weighted average number of basic shares used in the computations was 11,874,750 and 5,535,861 respectively as the Company completed its initial public offering in 2001. Operating income increased to $12,296,000 from $7,280,000 in the first quarter of 2001. EBITDA for the quarter was $19,892,000 compared with $11,016,000 for last year's first quarter. On a time charter basis, revenues for the quarter were $30,052,000, an increase of 93% over the $15,575,000 recorded in the first quarter of last year, mainly due to the expansion of the fleet. Time charter earned revenues for the first quarter of 2002 were $26,643,000 approximately 89% of revenues, as opposed to $14,190,000 or 91% of revenues, on a time charter basis, for the same period last year.

Fleet Report

Including the two newbuildings to be delivered in the second quarter of 2002, Stelmar has 27 ships with a total of 1,528,438-dwt-cargo carrying capacity. Twenty-four of these ships are deployed on time charter. Seven time charters were signed during the first quarter of 2002, bringing time charter coverage to 77% and 43% of the net operating days for the fleet for 2002 and 2003 respectively. The durations of the charters signed over the course of the quarter range from six months to eighteen months. The average hire for the six months time charters is approximately $12,000 per day with the longer duration time charters exceeding $13,500 per day. On April 3, 2002, Stelmar Shipping Ltd. announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell approximately 3.6 million shares of the Company's common stock to the public. The Company primarily intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to fund a portion of the purchase of 2 modern secondhand Handymax tankers and 2 newly built Panamax tankers. The newly built Panamax tankers are fixed on five-year time charters. With these four tankers and the two newbuilding Panamax tankers scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of 2002, Stelmar's fleet will consist of 31 tankers of which 19 are Handymax tankers, 8 are Panamax tankers and 4 are Aframax tankers.