Tankers Ltd News

Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NAT) announced on Wednesday that one of its Suexmax tankers commenced a one-year time charter contract.The 2010-built tanker has gone to work with "one of the world’s largest energy companies" at a rate in excess of $ 30,000 per day, NAT said. The company did not reveal the name of the vessel."This is one example showing that NAT is well placed for the significant upswing we now see in rates for our ships," said Herbjorn Hansson, founder, chairman and CEO of Nordic American Tankers.The NAT fleet currently consists of 20 suezmax vessels, the company said, noting that the operating expenses of its vessels average $8,000 per day.

Bjorn Moller is retiring from Teekay Corporation’s Board of Directors, the shipowner announced Wednesday.Moller has more than 35 years of service with the Teekay, including 22 years as a board member and more than 20 years in senior management positions. He was Teekay’s President and Chief Executive Officer from 1998 to 2011.Moller also served as Vice Chairman of Teekay GP L.L.C., the general partner of Teekay LNG Partners L.P., Vice Chairman of Teekay Offshore GP L.L.C., the general partner of Teekay Offshore Partners L.P.

Venezuela's oil exports have fallen nearly 28% in the first half of June, on course for the lowest level in over 70 years as tanker owners and operators suspend contracts for transporting crude oil, according to documents and data on Tuesday.Shipping firms are avoiding Venezuela after the United States earlier this month blacklisted four vessels and their owners for transporting the country's crude.Several shippers have turned tankers away from Venezuela's waters in the face of increasingly aggressive U.S. efforts to isolate and oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro by throttling the oil revenue that funds his government.State oil firm PDVSA and its partners in joint ventures have exported seven cargoes of crude and fuel so far in June to long-time customers including Italy's Eni…

Last year, China replaced the United States as the No. 1 importer of oil from Venezuela, yet another front in the heated rivalry between Washington and Beijing.The United States had imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company as part of a bid to topple that country’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro. U.S. refineries stopped buying Venezuelan crude. Caracas’ ally China, long a major customer, suddenly found itself the top purchaser. Through the first six months of 2019, it imported an average of 350,000 barrels per day of crude from Venezuela.But in August, Washington tightened its sanctions on Venezuela, warning that any foreign entity that continued to do business with the South American country’s government could find itself subject to sanctions.

Standard Drilling, an offshore driller turned offshore support vessel owner, has now decided to make another shift in its game.The company, which in 2013 sold off its offshore drilling rigs, only to return as offshore vessel owner in 2016, on Tuesday said it would enter the tanker market by acquiring a 33.3% ownership in a newly built VLCC.Delivery from the yard, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co in Korea, is expected later this week. The purchase price of the VLCC is $106 million.Standard Drilling will invest $36.5 million…

Brazilian investigators said on Friday a Greek-flagged ship carrying Venezuelan crude was the source of oil tarring thousands of kilometers of coastline over the past two months.While prosecutors and police did not name the vessel, a prosecutors' document obtained by Reuters identified the ship as the Bouboulina, owned by Greece's Delta Tankers Ltd. Police said the tanker appears to have spilled the crude about 700 km (420 miles) off Brazil's coast between July 28-29, bound for Singapore with oil loaded at Venezuela's San José terminal.Delta Tankers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Brazil's solicitor general said the country would seek damages in the case…

Denis Petropoulos has been elected Chairman of the Baltic Exchange Council with effect from June 1, 2019. He replaces Duncan Dunn who has held the position since January 2018. Denis Petropoulos was a founding partner of Braemar Tankers Ltd and remains a significant shareholder at Braemar Shipping Services PLC. He most recently headed up Braemar's Singapore office for seven years, before returning to the UK.He has been a Baltic Exchange Member since 1999 and has held positions…

Teekay LNG Partners L.P. has announced that Brody Speers, the current Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Teekay Gas Group Ltd., a management services company that provides services to the Partnership and its subsidiaries, has been appointed as Vice President, Corporate Finance, of Teekay Shipping (Canada) Ltd. (Teekay) and Scott Gayton, who currently serves as a Vice President at Teekay, has been appointed to assume the CFO position from Mr. Speers. Gayton brings over 20 years of finance and accounting experience, including most recently serving as CFO of Tanker Investments Ltd. from the time of its initial public offering until its merger with Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK). Gayton will also continue to oversee capital markets transactions across the Teekay Group.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. has launched a vessel dashboard portal called The Helm that is designed to give pool partners a transparent, real-time direct link to commercial, technical and market data pertaining to their vessels.For Teekay Tankers CEO, Kevin Mackay, The Helm is a way Teekay Tankers can harness digital technology and big data tools to stay at the forefront of tanker market trends: “Our commercial team has been building out its service offering to customers and partners over the last couple of years. These services deepen our customer relationships and deliver a consistent revenue stream in all markets.”“Mackay continued, We have been in the tanker pool business for more than 10 years.

Teekay Corporation’s board of directors has elected Kenneth Hvid to succeed current president and CEO, Peter Evensen, who will retire January 31, 2017 after more than 13 years with the company. Hvid is presently serving as president and CEO of Teekay Offshore Group Ltd. “Kenneth Hvid is the natural successor to Peter Evensen as CEO of Teekay at this time,” said Teekay's Chairman, Sean Day. Hvid has served on the board of Teekay daughter companies, and has worked closely with all the business segments in Teekay in his previous role as Chief Strategy Officer.

Genco Shipping & Trading Limited announced that Peter C. Georgiopoulos has resigned from his role as Chairman of the Board, effective immediately. Arthur L. Regan has been elected as Interim Executive Chairman. Georgiopoulos said, “With the proposed bank refinancing and equity commitment from major shareholders, I believe Genco is well positioned in a challenging drybulk market. As the Company begins this new chapter, I have decided to pursue other opportunities. Arthur L. Regan has served as a director of Genco since February 17, 2016. Regan is currently an Operating Partner with Apollo Investment Consulting LLC (together with Apollo Global Management, LLC and its other subsidiaries, Apollo). Since 2010, Mr.

Russia’s PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) subsidiary SCF Tankers Ltd. has won an auction for nine arctic-going tankers that belonged Primorsk International Shipping Ltd. (PRISCO), who filed for chapter 11 protection in January 2016. The purchase deal is worth $215 million, and the auction results have been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which is handling PRISCO’s bankruptcy case. SCF Tankers outbid Denmark’s Hafnia Tankers Ltd., who submitted a $208 million offer, the Wall Street Journal reported. The nine ships comprise one Aframax crude oil tanker: Zaliv Amerika (104,535-dwt); three LR2 oil product tankers: Zaliv Amurskiy (104…

Nordic American Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:NAT) entered into a 30 months charter contract with a subsidiary of ExxonMobil (EM) for one of the NAT suezmaxes. The firm period is 18 months with an option of further 12 months. The gross revenue from the contract of 30 months is about $25 million, reflecting a time charter rate between $25,000 and $30,000 per day. The charter is scheduled to commence in a few days. The cash breakeven level of NAT, including all G&A costs and financial items, is now about $11,000 per day per vessel, spread across 30 units. This type of a solid employment base strengthens NAT and is sustaining our dividend distribution policy. This new contract supplements the contract of affreightment we already have with a subsidiary of EM.

The board of directors for Teekay Tankers Ltd. has declared a cash dividend of $0.09 per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2016.   The cash dividend is payable on June 3, 2016 to all shareholders of record as at May 30, 2016.

TMS Tankers Ltd, one of the largest Greece based shipping fleet operators, has selected Wärtsilä fixed pitch propellers (FPPs) for its new vessels under construction in China. The order was placed with Wärtsilä's joint venture company in China, Wärtsilä CME Zhenjiang Propeller Co Ltd (WCME), in December 2015. Other leading Greek shipping companies have also recently opted for Wärtsilä FPPs. The contract covers the propellers for four Aframax tankers under construction at the Hantong Ship Heavy Industry yard. The Wärtsilä FPPs will be fitted with the company's EnergoProFin solution, a propeller cap with fins that rotates together with the propeller to produce fuel savings of up to 5 percent.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. reported adjusted net income attributable to its shareholders of $48.5 million, or $0.31 per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, compared to $18.6 million, or $0.21 per share, for the same period in the prior year. The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 42 cents per share. The increase is primarily due to stronger spot tanker rates in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in the prior year and an increase in fleet size related to the acquisition of 17 modern, mid-size tankers during 2015 and the expansion of the Company's chartered-in tanker portfolio in 2014 and 2015.

Teekay Corporation announced today it has entered into a framework cooperation agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM) for up to $1 billion in new loan facilities. The loan facilities would be made available to Teekay and its subsidiaries, including Teekay LNG Partners L.P., Teekay Offshore Partners L.P. and Teekay Tankers Ltd., to finance the construction or conversion of vessels from shipyards in China over the next three years. “We are very pleased to announce the signing of this framework agreement in Beijing, China as it further strengthens our existing relationship with CEXIM and represents yet another source of capital for the Teekay group,” said Vince Lok, Teekay Corporation's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. announced it has agreed to acquire a fleet of 12 modern Suezmax tankers currently owned by Principal Maritime Tankers, a portfolio company of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC, for an aggregate purchase price of $662 million. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Teekay Tankers' earnings, free cash flow and net asset value per share and, when combined with the company's existing fleet of 10 Suezmaxes, will make Teekay Tankers one of the largest owners of Suezmax tankers in the world.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. announced that Peter Evensen, Teekay Corporation’s president and chief executive officer, has rejoined Teekay Tankers’ board of directors.   Evensen previously served as a director of Teekay Tankers from October 2007 to June 2013.

Teekay LNG Partners L.P. announced changes to Teekay LNG’s board of directors. Jane Hinkley has been appointed to the chairmanship position succeeding C. Sean Day, who will remain a director of Teekay LNG and chairman of the partnership’s sponsor, Teekay Corporation. Hinkley has been a director of Teekay LNG for over 10 years and has management and board experience in the shipping and oil and gas industry, including serving as the managing director of Navion Shipping AS, and chief financial officer and managing director of Gotaas-Larsen Shipping Corporation, and currently serves on the board of directors of Premier Oil plc and Vesuvius plc.

MISC Bhd  is selling AET Tanker Holdings Sdn Bhd, which owns a fleet of 74 crude oil and product tankers, to US-listed Teekay Tankers Ltd, reports local media. AET is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia's MISC Bhd. and a major global shipowner and operator with a fleet of around 80 tankers including 13 VLCCs, 48 Aframaxes and four Suezmaxes. MISC is a subsidiary of Malaysian energy conglomerate Petronas. “MISC is not in a position to comment on Teekay’s business plans,” the shipping company’s corporate communications arm responded when asked to verify news reported by Oslo-based shipping press Tradewinds. “It is difficult to quantify the disposal gain at this point of time without the actual acquisition price,” Kenanga Research said.

Hafnia Tankers Ltd have entered into an agreement to acquire 4 LR1 product tankers. This acquisition confirms the commitment of Hafnia Tankers and its stakeholders to further expand the business within the product tanker segment.  Karei – to be renamed Hafnia Australia, built 2010, STX. All vessels are scheduled to be delivered during the month of February. With this addition, the company is strengthening its exposure towards the LR1 segment and the vessels will all be joining the Straits Tankers LR1 Pool. The Straits Tankers LR1 Pool operates one of the world’s largest LR1 fleets with more than 30 vessels in the pool. We are pleased to expand our presence in the LR1 segment and will now have balanced activities within the Handy, MR and LR1 segments.

On December 9, 2014, Nordic American Tankers Ltd. announced that preliminary contracts had been entered into with a South Korean shipyard, for the construction of two suezmax tankers to be delivered in the third quarter 2016 and first quarter 2017. The final documents were signed December 19, 2014. The contracts are now firm, bringing the NAT fleet to 24 suezmax crude oil tankers, being able to transport one million barrels of oil each. The purchase price of the two newbuilding vessels is in the region of $65 million each, which is expected to be financed by the internal resources of NAT. The stage payments to the yard by NAT during construction will be guaranteed by a bank.