Danish Ship Finance News

Swedbank has signed the Poseidon Principles, a global framework for integrating climate considerations into lending decisions within ship financeThe Poseidon Principles provide a standardised methodology for data collection and reporting of emissions from banks’ shipping portfolios, with the overall ambition of supporting and facilitating the decarbonization of the shipping industry.The Poseidon Principles are consistent with the policies and ambitions of the IMO, including its…

BIMCO has published two standard Quiet Enjoyment Letters (QELs), the first standard form QELs available to the industry, to offer a tool that can ensure the charterers’ uninterrupted use of a ship if the owner defaults under the financing facility. The QELs will be provided by the lender to the charterer to ensure that the charterer, who does not have a contractual relationship with the lender but only with the owner, can continue to “quietly enjoy” the ship in case of the owner’s default.

If shipping is the beating heart of global trade, its pulse is about to get slower. Faced with uncertainty about which fuels to use in the long term to cut greenhouse gas emissions, many shipping firms are sticking with aging fleets, but older vessels may soon have to start sailing slower to comply with new environmental rules.From next year, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all ships to calculate their annual carbon intensity based on a vessel's emissions…

Tanker shipping company TORM announced on Wednesday it has purchased three 2015-built Aframax vessels from Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. for $120.8 million.The three 114,322 dwt LR2 tankers Nissos Schinoussa, Nissos Heraclea and Nissos Therassia are expected to be delivered during the second and the quarters of 2021, TORM said. The trio was built at South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries, and each is fitted with scrubbers and ballast water treatment system.TORM said it has obtained commitment for the financing of two of the vessels from Danish Ship Finance for $60 million, and the third vessel is expected to be financed through a sale and leaseback agreement with a Chinese financial institution for proceeds of $32.2 million.

Many of the world’s biggest lenders to shipping companies fell short of carbon-cutting targets last year in the first analysis of CO2 goals for the sector by financiers, a report showed on Wednesday.Global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions and the industry is under pressure to reduce those emissions and other pollution. About 90% of world trade is transported by sea.Last year, a group of leading banks signed up to environmental commitments known as the Poseidon Principles…

Danish international shipping and logistics firm DFDS has, with its partners, applied for EU support for the development of a ferry powered by electricity from a hydrogen fuel cell system that only emits water. Green hydrogen is to be produced by a projected offshore wind energy-powered electrolyzer plant in Greater Copenhagen.A group of companies has partnered up in order to develop a 100% hydrogen-powered ferry for initially DFDS’ Oslo-Frederikshavn-Copenhagen route.The partners in the project are DFDS, ABB, Ballard Power Systems Europe, Hexagon Purus, Lloyd’s Register, KNUD E.

With the signing by the France-based international lender to global shipping BNP Paribas and the Swiss multinational investment bank Credit Suisse, Signatories of the Poseidon Principles represent around $140 billion in loans to international shipping – about 30% of the total global ship finance portfolio.Poseidon Principles is a global framework for responsible ship finance which helps incentivize shipping’s decarbonization.They establish a common framework to quantitatively assess and disclose whether financial institutions’ lending portfolios are in line with climate goals set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized…

The global provider of benchmarks and investible indices, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has affirmed the ‘BBB+’ Issuer Credit Rating on Danish Ship Finance and revised the outlook to ‘Stable’ from ’Negative’." We are revising our outlook on Danmarks Skibskredit to stable from negative and affirming the 'BBB+/A-2' issuer credit ratings," it said.S&P justifies the revision with the company’s reduction in nonperforming exposures and robust capitalization and liquidity, which would reduce potential repercussions from the shipping sector’s cyclicality."Danmarks Skibskredit has reduced its nonperforming exposure, and we expect its asset quality to remain stable amid the slowing global economy and trade tensions…

Epic Gas, the liquid petroleum gas (LPG) shipping solutions company, announced that it has completed the acquisition of two of the four ships that it previously referenced in April 2019.The vessels, the Kahyasi and Kris Kin, , are all modern second-hand 11,000cbm Japanese-built pressurised LPG carriers that were built in 2015.The remaining ships, the Kingcraft and Kisber, also both 11,000cbm Japanese-built pressurized LPG carriers built in 2015, are due to complete in July and August.Two of the four vessels immediately enter a two-year time charter with a leading LPG commodity trading and shipping company, said a press release from the Oslo-listed company.The four vessels will sit alongside six sister vessels already in the Company fleet…

A group of leading banks will for the first time include efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions in their decision making when providing shipping company loans, executives said on Tuesday.International shipping accounts for 2.2% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO), has a long-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050.Working with non-profit organisations the Global Maritime Forum, the Rocky Mountain Institute and London University's UCL Energy Institute…

Eleven banks with a combined shipping finance portfolio of $100bn will for the first time integrate climate considerations into lending decisions to incentivize maritime shipping's decarbonization.Named 'the Poseidon Principles', the new rules are a global framework for assessing and disclosing the climate alignment of financial institutions' shipping portfolios, said joint press release from Rocky Mountain Institute, Global Maritime Forum and UCL Energy Institute.Founding Signatories include Citi, Societe Generale, DNB, ABN Amro, Amsterdam Trade Bank, Credit Agricole CIB, Danish Ship Finance, Danske Bank, DVB, ING and Nordea, and represent around 20% of the global ship finance portfolio."As banks…

American shipowner Eagle Bulk Shipping  has announced that Eagle Bulk Ultraco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, has closed on a new five-year senior secured facility  totaling USD 208.4 million, maturing in 2024. The global transporter of drybulk commodities said that the Facility is secured by 21 vessels, including the M/V Cape Town Eagle which was acquired earlier this month, and includes a term loan of USD 153.4 million and a revolving credit facility of USD 55 million.Gary Vogel, Eagle’s CEO, said: “We are very pleased that the Company continues to secure increasingly attractive debt financing and has increased its financial flexibility in the process.

Connecticut-headquartered Eagle Bulk Shipping said that its wholly-owned subsidiary Eagle Bulk Ultraco has received a loan commitment from a consortium of banks for a new five year senior secured facility totaling approximately $208 million.According to the company, the Facility will include a term loan equating to approximately $153 million and a revolving credit facility of $55 million, and will be used to refinance the existing debt of Eagle Bulk Ultraco LLC and Eagle Shipping, as well as for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures relating to the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers.Upon the closing of the transaction and the repayment in full of the Refinanced Debt…

International law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) advised Norway’s DNB Bank ASA (DNB), as facility agent and security agent for a syndicate of banks comprising itself, ABN AMRO Bank N.V., BNP Paribas, Danish Ship Finance and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, in relation to a US$310m loan facility provided to Star Bulk Carriers Corp.Secured on 26 vessels in Star Bulk’s fleet, the facility consists of two tranches: (a) a first tranche of US$240m used to refinance Star Bulk’s debt under five existing facility agreements; and (b) a second tranche of US$70m used to finance the prospective capital expense for the retrofitting of vessels…

Star Bulk Carriers announced that it has entered into a $310 million loan agreement, which includes a $70 million tranche (Green Loan Tranche) that will exclusively finance the procurement and retrofitting of scrubbers for up to approx. 50 vessels in Star Bulk’s fleet. According to a press release from the global shipping company focusing on the transportation of dry bulk cargoes, DNB Bank, acted as the Mandated Lead Arranger, Facility Agent and Coordinator, along with ABN AMRO Bank, BNP Paribas, Danish Ship Finance and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken as Mandated Lead Arrangers.The remaining $240 million were drawn on September 28, 2018 and refinanced in full a group of 26 vessels…

The crude oil tanker company operating a fleet of crude oil tankers in the VLCC, Suezmax and Aframax segments, DHT Holdings announced that it has secured commitment to a $50 million financing for its earlier publicized scrubber retrofit project, subject to final documentation.The financing is structured through an increase of the existing $300 million secured credit facility entered into in the second quarter of 2017. The increased facility will bear the same interest rate equal to Libor + 2.40%.The increased facility is available immediately and will have quarterly repayments of $2.5 million commencing second quarter 2020, aligned with the implementation of IMO2020 and expected economic benefits.

Key figures from Maersk Group, Statoil and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have signed up to discuss future ocean business opportunities, demands and strategies at Opening Oceans Conference 2018 (OOC). The event, Nor-Shipping’s first outside its Norwegian home, will see c-level executives gather in Copenhagen on May 2nd and 3rd  to examine how to responsibly realise the huge potential of the ocean, gaining the understanding, partners and tools to equip businesses for the way ahead.

Moving from smart talk to practical solutions and learning from other industries will be the twin themes of an industry event scheduled for Vancouver in March. Technology will be an enabler, but the maritime industry will have to be prepared to change its model to be a candidate for a smarter digital future. Meeting the real enterprise challenges blocking shipping’s digital journey is the focus for the Transas Global Conference 2018, whose ‘Enterprise Change’ agenda brings together global business leaders…

Global maritime event week Nor-Shipping is making its first move outside Norway, with a new initiative to help maritime and ocean industry players realize the almost limitless business potential of the ocean space. Nor-Shipping’s Opening Oceans Conference, taking place in Copenhagen from May 2-3, 2018, will bring businesses together to illustrate and discuss key opportunities, equip delegates with the tools to tackle them, and facilitate fresh collaborations. Timed to coincide with Danish Maritime Days…

Denmark-based shipping company TORM sold three vessels: TORM Anne (1999-built MR vessel), TORM Madison and TORM Trinity (both 2000-built Handysize vessels) during the first six months of 2017. Furthermore, TORM completed sale and leaseback transactions for three vessels: TORM Helene, TORM Mary and TORM Vita. The three sale and leaseback transactions are treated as financial leases but have no purchase obligation attached. Following the balance sheet date, TORM has completed two transactions to purchase a total of six MR resale vessels for a total consideration of USD 185m. The first transaction includes four MR resale vessels with expected delivery in 2019. TORM has received firm commitment from Danish Ship Finance to finance the four vessels with 65% of the purchase price.

Bermuda-based DHT Holdings has completed the delivery of the nine VLCCs acquired from the BW and the contracts for the two newbuildings due for delivery in 2018 have been transferred to DHT. DHT has a fleet of 30 VLCCs, 26 in the water and four under construction scheduled for delivery in 2018, as well as two Aframaxes. The total dwt of the fleet is 9,502,995. The average age of the VLCC fleet is 6.8 years. "In June 2017, we entered into a financing with DNB and Nordea totaling $82.5 million to fund the acquisition of the two VLCC newbuildings ordered from HHI in January 2017. The five year credit facility is divided 50/50 between a term loan and a revolving credit facility and borrowings will bear interest at a rate equal to LIBOR plus a margin of 250 basis points…

Danish ship owner TORM said it has purchased four resale medium range (MR) tankers from Chinese shipbuilder Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI), with an option to purchase up to four additional MR vessels. The first four vessels are due for delivery in 2019, and the following four would be delivered in late 2019 – all delivered according to TORM’s specifications. According to TORM Executive Director, Jacob Meldgaard, TORM was able to purchase the vessels “at very favorable prices” thanks to its long-standing relationship with GSI.

Euronav NV announces has signed a new USD 410 million senior secured amortizing revolving credit facility. The facility has been made available on 16 December 2016 for the purpose of refinancing 11 vessels as well as Euronav’s general corporate and working capital purposes. The credit facility was used to refinance the USD 500 million senior secured credit facility dated 25 March 2014 and will mature on 31 January 2023 carrying a rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 2.25%. Hugo De Stoop, CFO of Euronav said: “This new facility will provide a lot of flexibility for Euronav. It is a full revolving credit facility replacing a term loan, it has a lower margin (50 bps lower) than the facility it is refinancing, and it has a much longer maturity.