FSL Ship Lease Trust (FSL Trust), a Singapore-based owner of nine tankers, announced on Thursday that it has agreed to divest its largest ship, an MR carrier.
An agreement to sell the 47,500-dwt FSL Singapore (built 2006) was signed with an unaffiliated third party, the Efstathios Topouzoglou-led company said in a press release without identifying the buyer.
The 10% deposit required to set the deal in motion has been paid, according to the statement.
Further details of the disposal will be revealed upon its completion, the company added without elaborating on when exactly the FSL Singapore will be delivered to its new owners.
FSL Trust, which aims to expand its portfolio beyond tankers to include renewable and energy-related offshore assets, has sold another two tankers this year — the 20,000-dwt FSL London (built 2006) and the 115,000-dwt FSL Hong Kong (built 2007).
Tanker values, particularly for MRs and aframaxes, have soared recently following drastic improvements in freight market conditions.
Tanker sales and higher revenue have enabled FSL Trust to resume dividend payments to shareholders earlier this month, for the first time in three quarters.
Net profit came in at $2.1m for the second quarter from $0.5m in the same time last year. For the period of January through June, profit more than doubled to $2.2m from $0.9m.
The FSL Singapore was trading in the spot market and its sale leaves the company with a core fleet of eight chemical carriers tied up to firm, fixed-rate bareboat charters to James Fisher Everard.
According to a presentation in the company’s second-quarter results earlier this month, these charters are staggered over a period between the end of 2022 and 2029.
