Tufton Oceanic News

The Board of Tufton Oceanic Assets Limited announced the company has agreed to sell its last containership, the Riposte, for $13 million. It is being sold at approximately depreciated replacement cost. The divestment will take the company’s fleet to 22 vessels.The realized net IRR on the Riposte exceeds 12%. The aggregate realized net IRR on the company’s containerships over the past five years is c.27%.This divestment together with the other divestments and investments over the previous two years demonstrate our commitments to capital re-allocation and ESG.

Watson Farley & Williams, international law firm based in London, advised Ridgebury Tankers and Tufton Oceanic on the acquisition of two Suezmax tankers in a 50%-50% joint venture with Euronav NV who also provided secured debt to the joint venture companies for the purposes of the acquisitions.Last month, Belgium's tanker shipping company Euronav has acquired two Suezmax tankers through a joint venture formed with affiliates of Ridgebury Tankers and clients of Tufton Oceanic.The  two Suezmax tankers fetch a combined consideration of US$40.6m. Both vessels have been delivered into the joint ventures.Ridgebury is a US-based shipping company with a fleet of high-quality crude and refined product tankers.

Belgium's tanker shipping company Euronav  has acquired two tankers through joint ventures with affiliates of Ridgebury Tankers and clients of Tufton Oceanic.Each 50%- 50% joint venture company has acquired one Suezmax vessel. Euronav will also provide financing for the joint ventures on commercially attractive terms.The joint ventures have acquired the two Suezmax tankers for a total consideration of 40.6 million USD with the vessels being delivered for the winter spot market 2019/2020 (one vessel delivered with immediate effect and one vessel expected to be delivered before the end of the month). Both vessels will be commercially managed…

Greece-based global shipping company specializing in the transportation of dry bulk commodities Pioneer Marine said that it has  entered into a commercial management agreement with Tufton Oceanic Funds.The agreement is  to undertake the commercial management of five dry bulk vessels, further enhancing its operating platform, said the shipowner and global drybulk handysize transportation service provider.Upon the initiation of this cooperation, Pioneer will have under commercial management a total fleet of 24 handysize and one supramax vessels, including owned fleet.Tufton Oceanic is a fund management firm for the maritime, energy related…

United Kingdom-based closed-ended investment company Tufton Oceanic (SHIP) has reached an agreement to acquire a container ship for $28.6m. The new ship will take the company’s fleet size to 15 vessels.The new ship has a time charter of approximately 5.5 years to a major container line and SHIP says it is going to invest $4.7m to upgrade the in accordance with this charter.SHIP says that the yield from the new vessel exceeds the targets expressed in its prospectus dated 25 September 2018.This is the third investment made from the proceeds of the placing announced on 11 March 2019 and, following completion of this acquisition and taking account of the required investment to upgrade the vessel, the company will have invested approximately 85% of the net proceeds from the placing.

The fund management firm for the maritime Tufton Oceanic Assets has agreed to acquire a container ship for $13mln.The London-listed specialist fund said that the containership is designed to haul fresh fruit all over the globe. "The ship is being lent on a two year charter to a leading private operator of containerships in the fresh fruit transportation sector," it said.According to a stock exchange annoucement, the yield is in line with the targets expressed in the Company’s C Share prospectus.This is the second investment made from the C Share proceeds announced on 11 October 2018. This acquisition will take the Company’s fleet to eight vessels…

Norway based dry bulk shipping company Golden Ocean Group Limited IGOGL) has announced that Ulrika Laurin and James O'Shaughnessy have been elected as new board members.Ulrika Laurin has been the Executive Chairman of ship-owning company Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Co. Ltd. and the Chairman of Laurin Shipping AB, an international ship-management company.She has served as the CFO of Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Co. Ltd. and as Commercial Manager of Laurin Maritime (UK) Ltd. Prior to that, she worked with fund manager Tufton Oceanic Ltd. and with management consultant Karlöf & Partners. She holds a Master of Science degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics.James O'Shaughnessy has been an Executive Vice President…

Denmark-based shipping company Hafnia Tankers is exploring the possibility of consolidation with BW Tankers, part of BW Group, Hafnia’s CEO Mikael Skov said.In its half year results statement Hafnia said: “Hafnia is exploring the possibility of consolidation with BW Tankers, a company owned by BW Group, one of our shareholders.”BW Group increased its shareholdings in Hafnia in early July when it acquired BTS Tankers Partners LLC. With the acquisition, BW Group became the beneficial owner of 43.5% of the Hafnia Group.Last month, BW Group said it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy a 36.3% stake in Hafnia Tankers, a shipping company formed by the management team of former Tankers Inc.

BW Group has entered into a definitive agreement to buy a 36.3% stake in Hafnia Tankers, a shipping company formed by the management team of former Tankers Inc. The majority of the shares will be acquired through BTS, a collaboration between Blackstone-managed funds, Tufton Oceanic and Hartmann, and the balance purchased directly from certain Blackstone-managed funds. ombined with recent purchases from other shareholders, BW Group will own 43.5% of Hafnia Tankers. Carsten Mortensen, CEO of BW Group says, “BW Group is pleased to acquire this shareholding in Hafnia Tankers with its strong operational platform and quality fleet. We look forward to discussions with the other shareholders about the future strategy.

Emerging recovery for segments of global shipping industry; Nordic American Tanker and Dryships Inc among popular stocks. Shipping stocks may still be in the doldrums in the view of many investors, but hedge funds have bet at least $675 million on signs of renewed buoyancy in the industry. Hedge funds made initial forays into shipping stocks in the third quarter of 2017, but significantly stepped up their bets in the final three months of the year, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings compiled by Symmetric show. "Shipping has been in a terrible trough for a number of years," Chris Walvoord, global head of hedge fund research at investment consultant Aon Hewitt, said. "Hedge funds are starting to see opportunity ...

As global shipping grapples with its worst downturn in 30 years, private equity firms are unwinding massive bets made on the sector in a move set to accelerate a restructuring of the shipping industry. Private equity invested tens of billions in global shipping after the 2008 financial crisis, but weaker Chinese demand and an oversupply of ships has driven down freight rates and caused firms to idle vessels and in some cases file for bankruptcy. At least five private-equity backed shipping firms are seeking share listings…

Private equity has pumped $32 bln into shipping in past 2 years. Ships totaling 299 mln dwt to enter global fleet from May. Some private equity-backed shipping IPOs have been put off on weak sentiment. The shipping industry faces a looming capacity glut as billions of dollars pumped into it by private equity have stoked a vessel-buying spree, threatening its prospects just as the sector is emerging from its worst downturn in three decades. Backed by private equity and hedge fund financing, shipping companies have placed orders for thousands of new ships over the past two years, reminiscent of the ship-ordering binge of the mid-2000s that eventually led to overcapacity after the global financial crisis severely hit cargo demand.

Tankship freight rates on the up as global oil trade pattern changes According to Bloomberg, the U.S. is importing the least in 13 years as China buys more than ever, lengthening voyages for tankers and effectively reducing the fleet’s capacity, government data show. Very large crude carriers, each hauling 2 million barrels, will earn $40,000 a day this year, 81 percent more than in 2011, said Andreas Vergottis, the Hong Kong-based research director of Tufton Oceanic Ltd., which manages about $1.3 billion of assets.

Money and Ships conference to review current situation after global attacks hit all-time high of 266 for the first half of 2011- problem costs industry up to $16 billion annually. Global attacks on ships rose to an all-time high of 266, during the first six months of 2011 up from 196 in 2010 according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). More than 117 ships were attacked and 20 seized, by pirates off the coast of Somalia alone since January 1, 2011, holding 28 ships and 518 hostages for ransom as of the end of April 2011. These issues are to be raised and reviewed by industry experts at Middle East Money and Ships conference, which takes place at the Address Hotel in Dubai Marina on 16 October 2011.

“Liquidity has come back to some extent,” said Oliver Ebner, Senior Manager, Project and Structured Finance for the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Ebner is one of a panel of speakers lined up to address a special session on financing the industry in the global economic slowdown at Middle East Money & Ships, the region’s premier networking event for senior executives from the maritime and finance sectors. The conference from 7-8 October 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai, will also assess the continued appetite for investment in shipping, the likely pattern for recovery, where the money will come from as well as providing a realistic assessment of the current order book.

Shipping Bond Fund Ltd. A member of the Centre Group and TuftonOceanic have completed what is believed to be the first collateralized debt obligation (CDO) comprised entirely of high-yield shipping bonds. The $50 million CDO, Shipping Bond Fund Ltd., is unique due to its size and the fact that it selected assets solely from a select group of shipping industry bonds with high asset coverage ratios. Centre looks for opportunities to work with experienced partners to structure and provide capacity to CDOs and other asset-backed structured finance transactions through the application of non-traditional insurance and reinsurance products.

Stymied in its efforts to extract what it deems a reasonable market value, the Latvian government will decide on April 4 whether to proceed with the privatization of Latvian Shipping after a third tender to sell the firm failed. The government received only one bid for a 44 percent stake in the company, which was subsequently ruled invalid because the unnamed bidder failed to present all necessary documents and pay a $3.9 million security deposit and a 2,000 lat auction fee. The bidding deadline was March 27. "The government will evaluate three variants on further action. One variant is to stop Latvian Shipping's privatization, the second is to extend the application deadline and the third is to set a repeated tender," said Romans Melniks, spokesman for the economy minister.

Shipping finance specialist Tufton Oceanic is reportedly launching an independent web-based shipping chartering exchange with a group of e-commerce and investment companies. The exchange, to be called ShipDesk, aims to become the definitive independent chartering exchange, benefiting all market participants, a spokesperson said. ShipDesk, which will go live later this year, has been developed in conjunction with U.S.-based electronic market developer OptiMark Technologies, European e-business investment firm antfactory, and private equity group Whitney & Co. The site will provide a confidential exchange for wet and dry bulk commodity trade from shipment to voyage completion.

Much as has transpired in mainstream consumer markets, the dot com craze has recently enveloped the maritime world with promises of cost savings and operational efficiencies. While an attrition and natural process of consolidation can eventually be expected, the world of e-commerce solutions for the maritime market is definitely in its infancy. While it is impossible to judge the full working models in this report, the following text contains synopsis reports on some of the more noteworthy market entrants. Recently launched by Boston-based WebPark Corp., Boat-Park.com is an on-line virtual trade show, which seeks to bring together worldwide participants into its virtual trade show, which is open 24/7.

Phenomenal is perhaps the only word adequately to describe the rampage of new, integrated e-commerce solutions that have recently swamped the maritime industry. The marine market, which has a solid reputation of following rather than leading technological surges, has gone from "zero to sixty" in record time on the e-commerce front. But while the industry today has a bevy of selections from which to choose — including portals for conducting every transaction conceivable, from fixing cargos to buying bunker fuel, spare parts or a ship's stores — the critical question revolves around not which choices are available today, rather which choices will be available one year from today.

With a weakening dollar, predictions oil could hit $100 a barrel, and a boom in multi-billion dollar refinery construction, finance and shipping leaders will be meeting in Dubai this November to assess the impact on the regional and global maritime industries. The Middle East shipping industry is dominated by the tanker trade. Bookings for supertankers sailing from the Middle East to Asia account for 47% of global demand for the carriers, compared with shipments to the US and Caribbean, the second-biggest market, which accounts for 14% of demand. The balance of supply and demand, in the tanker sector in the Middle East, will be part of a special Charterers Forum that will take place during the Middle East Money & Ships 2007 conference, from 4-5 November, at Mina a'Salam, Madinat Jumeirah.

Victoria Santos-Pires has joined London-based ship finance consultant Eurofin. Santos-Pires has been a shipping financier for more than fifteen years, most recently as loan portfolio manager with Tufton Oceanic Limited where, in an eleven-year spell, she handled the overall implementation of loan transactions. Prior to that, she was with Swiss Cantobank in London, and Chancery Bank. In addition to her extensive experience of the ship finance sector, Santos-Pires brings to Eurofin client, transaction and bank syndicate management skills, together with financial and documentary administration capabilities, and refinancing, restructuring and vessel sales experience.