Hoegh Autoliners has taken advantage of a bareboat charter purchase option to buy a modern car carrier on the cheap.
The Norwegian owner said it exercised its right to acquire the 8,500-ceu Hoegh Tracer (built 2016) for $53.2m.
The Ocean Yield-owned vessel was worth $82m at the end of June, according to an average of three brokers’ estimates.
VesselsValue has the ship as worth $91m in record pure car/truck carrier (PCTC) markets.
“Different financing options for the vessel are being evaluated,” the new owner said.
The carrier, which has been on bareboat charter to Hoegh Autoliners since its delivery in China for a price of $129m, will continue to serve the company’s deep-sea network.
“The transaction will reduce the cash capacity cost for the vessel, allowing the company to realise the additional value gains from lease options and to have better capacity cost control in an overheated charter market,” Hoegh Autoliners added.
A sistership, the Hoegh Trapper, is on a similar lease from Ocean Yield, with an option to purchase in December.
No decision has yet been taken on whether to acquire this unit.
A faithful servant
Andreas Enger, chief executive of Hoegh Autoliners, said: “The Hoegh Tracer has served us well and sailed the oceans transporting our customers’ important cargo since she was built in 2016.
“As one of six Horizon-class vessels in our fleet, she is one of the largest and most environmentally friendly PCTCs out there and therefore very important for our ambitious path to a zero-emissions future by 2040.”
VesselsValue rates the Hoegh Autoliners fleet as worth $2.1bn.
The company began pay-outs to shareholders this month amid increasing profit in the second quarter — for the first time since carrying out an initial public offering late last year and listing on the main market of the Oslo Stock Exchange in May.
New policy
This is part of a new dividend policy adopted by the owner and operator of around 40 ro-ros and car carriers.
Net profit came in at $53m, up 49%. The company said it will distribute $15m of that to shareholders in September.
Hoegh Autoliners has eight zero-carbon, Aurora-class car carriers on order in China, with delivery due to begin in the second half of 2024.
These will be the biggest car carriers in the world, and there are options for eight more.
