TOP Ships Inc. Announces Time Charter With Oil Major For 2 Suezmax Vessels
June 07 2018 - 8:30AM
TOP Ships Inc. (the “Company”), an international owner and operator
of modern, fuel efficient “ECO” tanker vessels focusing on the
transportation of crude oil and petroleum products, announced today
that it has agreed to enter into time charter employment with a
major oil company for its two Suezmax vessels currently under
construction at Hyundai Samho, South Korea, with Hull numbers S874
and S875 (the “Vessels”).
The Vessels will be employed for a firm period
of 36 months plus two additional 12 month periods, at the
charterer’s option, starting upon the Vessels’ deliveries expected
to take place in April 2019 and May 2019. The revenue backlog
expected to be generated by this fixture, assuming all options are
exercised, is about $96 million.
The Company had previously entered into charter
agreements with a related party for the Vessels. The related party
consented to be replaced by the new charterer, which was secured by
the company’s CEO.
Evangelos Pistiolis, the President, Chief
Executive Officer and Director of the Company, said:
“We are very happy to have entered into this
fixture for our very high specification scrubber fitted Suezmax
vessels. Our strategy of acquiring very high quality tonnage has
once again been embraced by top quality charterers. Due to their
scrubbers, these vessels have achieved daily rates that are above
the current market thereby giving us a payback on investment for
scrubbers in less than 2 years. These charters will
significantly facilitate the financing of the vessels due to the
charter duration, the rate and the quality of the counterparty.
Total gross revenue backlog for the fixed charter period of
operating vessels as of June 7, 2018 is about $177 million,
increasing to about $192 million when adding the 50% of our joint
venture vessels.”
Following the abovementioned time charters, the
Company’s projected charter coverage is as follows:
Year |
|
Operating fleet |
|
Operating fleet including vessels partly owned through
joint ventures |
2018 |
|
100% |
|
100% |
2019 |
|
83% |
|
86% |
2020 |
|
76% |
|
80% |
2021 |
|
36% |
|
37% |
2022 |
|
6% |
|
5% |
About TOP Ships Inc.
TOP Ships Inc. is an international ship-owning company.For more
information about TOP Ships Inc., visit its
website: www.topships.org.
Forward-Looking Statements
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute
forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for
forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to
provide prospective information about their business.
Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans,
objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and
underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than
statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this
safe harbor legislation. The words “believe,” “anticipate,”
“intends,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,”
“may,” “should,” “expect” “pending” and similar expressions
identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements
in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of
which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including
without limitation, our management’s examination of historical
operating trends, data contained in our records and other data
available from third parties. Although we believe that these
assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions
are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and
contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are
beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or
accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.
Contacts:Mr. Craig BrelsfordREDCHIPTel: +1 407
571 0902Email: Craig@redchip.com
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