American Shipping Co has brought in financial advisors to help it refinance a bond issue worth $220m.
The unsecured debt was sold by the Oslo-listed shipowner's American Tanker subsidiary and does not mature until February 2022.
Arctic Securities, Clarksons Platou Securities, Pareto Securities and SEB have been tasked with seeking new sources of cash.
Other Oslo-listed shipping companies have said in recent weeks that the bond market is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chemical tanker owner Odfjell is also trying to refinance an outstanding $82.5m of bonds due in the first quarter of 2021.
It is considering refinancing debt-free ships and is talking to banks about fresh liquidity.
Loans refinanced in April
In April, American Shipping finalised a new $305m loan package despite coronavirus turmoil in financial markets.
The five-year deal involved new and existing lenders.
The shipowner refinanced nine of its 10 product tankers on improved terms, which reduced its cost of capital.
The company logged stable first-quarter earnings as it endured a slump in demand in the US Jones Act market in March.
Ebitda was $22m in the first three months of the year, compared with $21.7m in the same period a year ago.
The company reported base bareboat revenue of $21.9m for the period, up from $21.6m a year earlier.
American Shipping has a backlog of secured bareboat revenue of $300m with an average weighted tenor of 3.4 years.
The outfit has all of its ships on bareboat charter to US-based Overseas Shipholding Group, which operates them in US cabotage trades.
