Norway’s Nordic American Tankers (NAT) has won a one-year charter for a suezmax at a rate illustrating continued improvement for owners.
The New York-listed company said an unnamed 2010-built tanker was fixed by “one of the world’s largest energy companies” at a rate in excess of $ 30,000 per day.
The company says it has a breakeven level of $8,000 per day on average.
“This is one example showing that NAT is well placed for the significant upswing we now see in rates for our ships,” said chief executive Herbjorn Hansson.
Shipbroker Allied Shipping is quoting one-year suezmax deals at $32,000 per day, up 24% from the $25,750 seen a month ago.
Spot suezmaxes were assessed at $58,441 per day on average, up from $52,781 in the previous seven days.
NAT now has 20 suezmax vessels.
Earlier in September, the CEO had said: “We are now in an upward trend and over the next year, two or three, we expect to increase our fleet.
“Our strong links with the Far East are continuing. This above all relates to Japan, China, Korea and India. Over the years we have long experience from these areas,” Hansson added.
The boss said the company’s main advantages are having “good ships, good people and access to finance.”
NAT also revealed Hansson’s son, director Alexander Hansson, bought 75,000 shares earlier this month at $ 3.10 each.
He also purchased 175,000 shares on 30 August, boosting his holding to 2m shares.
The Hansson family is the largest private shareholder group in the company.
