Keystone Charters Jones Act Tanker Pair from AMSC

American Shipping Company ASA (AMSC), A Norwegian-based ship finance company focused on the intercoastal U.S. Jones Act shipping market, announced it has entered into bareboat charters for two of its vessels commencing in December 2022 with U.S. tanker operator Keystone Shipping Co.

The bareboat charters have minimum terms of three years which may be extended at the charterer’s options. The charters are secured by back-to-back time charters of the same duration between Keystone and a major U.S. based oil and refinery group.

AMSC said the new charters add almost $60 million to its existing charter backlog, excluding any proceeds from the profit share component of the charters.

AMSC CEO Pål Lothe Magnussen said, “We are pleased to have secured employment for these two vessels ahead of the expiration of their current charters at the end of this year.  In doing so, we have increased our backlog and further ensured the visibility of our cash flows. Jones Act tanker capacity will remain constrained for the foreseeable future, and these charters are indicative of strong demand for our vessels. Chartering our vessels to a premium U.S. tanker operator like Keystone gives us a great deal of confidence that our vessels will be operated and maintained to the highest standards in order to serve U.S. oil companies’ transportation needs going forward.”

Keystone President Donald Kurz said, “Taking the two AMSC vessels on back-to-back bareboat charters will fall well within our strategy to operate ships in the domestic tanker trade. We are very happy to have concluded this bareboat transaction which allows us to service a key oil and refinery group in the U.S. Gulf.”