Sweden’s Concordia Maritime is excited about its next phase after selling all but one tanker in its fleet.
The Stena-controlled company is left with the 65,000-dwt clean carrier Stena Polaris (built 2010) after two other vessels were offloaded in the third quarter.
This ship is on a bareboat contract to US Crowley Government Services.
The vessel was valued at $29.1m by three independent brokers as of 30 September, but on a charter-free basis.
Concordia warned that the price of a sale today, which would require a novation of the existing charter to the buyer, would be lower.
Broker estimates during October were in the range of $19.5m to $24.5m.
Chief executive Erik Lewenhaupt said: “We continue to work on laying the foundations for the next phase in Concordia Maritime’s history.”
The company is now debt-free and has liquid funds of SEK 243.4m ($23m).
“The combination of the company’s assets, a 135-year history and a good reputation provides a good basis for future initiatives,” Lewenhaupt said.
He revealed that a number of projects and concrete transactions with various counterparties have been worked on during the year, particularly in offshore wind, dry bulk and intermediate product tankers.
“We and the board have evaluated several business openings,” Lewenhaupt said. “The work continues and the company has high hopes for the future, but without being under time pressure to conclude a deal quickly.
Timing is key
“As all our shareholders are aware, shipping is a cyclical sector in which timing is of key importance.”
The net loss for the third quarter was SEK 20.5m, compared to a deficit of SEK 22.8m in the same period a year ago.
Revenue shrank to SEK 20.7m from SEK 118.2m as the fleet dwindled.
Lewenhaupt said the longer-term consequences of the heightened geopolitical uncertainty include a marked increase in the focus on national and regional energy security.
“This, in turn, will have knock-on effects on shipping, partly in terms of changed cargo flows and partly in the form of increased demand for more niche vessels,” he said.
