John Fredriksen’s Avance Gas has offloaded another older VLGC for a useful gain as its fleet renewal continues.
The 83,700-cbm Iris Glory (built 2008) has gone for $60m in cash, the Oslo-listed company said.
Brokers pointed to unnamed Chinese interests as the buyer.
The gas carrier is on a two-year time charter and will be delivered to the new owner following its completion, between September this year and January 2024.
Avance Gas expects to book a gain of about $22m from the deal.
The vessel was sold to Japanese leaseback financier Shintoku Kaiun for $41.65m in 2021.
Once the lease financing has been repaid, cash proceeds will be $25m.
VesselsValue assesses the VLGC as worth $59m.
Chief executive Oystein Kalleklev said: “We are pleased to continue our fleet-renewal programme with the agreement to sell Iris Glory once she comes off charter. Last year, we sold three 2008/2009-built VLGCs and today we are selling the fourth ship of this vintage.
“This means we only have one VLGC of this vintage left, Venus Glory, which is on time charter until the end of 2023.”
New ships coming
Avance Gas has taken delivery of four new dual-fuel VLGCs in the last year and two more will arrive next year.
The two handed over so far in 2023 are equipped to run on ammonia, while the final pair will also be able to carry ammonia.
“The sale of Iris Glory enables us to free up liquidity to continue to pursue fleet renewal and expansion to further improve our carbon footprint and diversify the cargoes which our ships can carry so that we are prepared to meet the stricter decarbonisation rules in the near future,” Kalleklev said.
The owner is also investing money in up to four new midsize LPG-fuelled LPG/ammonia carriers in China, costing $61.5m each. Two firm ships have been ordered so far.
The last older VLGC to leave the fleet was the 84,000-cbm Promise (built 2009) in November, a sale which generated $20m in net cash proceeds and a book gain of $7.5m.
The Promise was bought from the Angelicoussis group as part of an en-bloc deal for $72m in 2012.
It was chartered to India’s Hindustan Petroleum in 2021 for two years and a year of options at $30,000 per day.
The three 2022 sales brought in estimated net cash proceeds of $66.8m.
