First Ship Lease Trust (FSL Trust) announced on Thursday the acquisition of a small chemical tanker, secured against long-term employment with its favoured charterer.
The $5m purchase of the 9,600-dwt Anuket Amber (built 2008) is the company’s first move as a buyer on the secondhand market since late 2015.
Singapore-based but Greek-controlled FSL Trust said in a statement it expects to take delivery of the ship between September and November.
The Anuket Amber will then be renamed Pelican Fisher and enter an eight-year bareboat charter with James Fisher Everard, which already employs more than half of FSL Trust’s 11 tankers under similar arrangements.
FSL Trust currently owns eight product tankers, two chemical tankers and an aframax. Firm, fixed-rate bareboat charters with James Fisher Everard on seven of these ships helped the company stay in the black in the first half of this year, despite slumping tanker markets.
“The transaction further strengthens the strong relationship between FSL Trust and James Fisher Everard, after we had already agreed to renew the charters for five other vessels with James Fisher Everard earlier this year,” FSL Trust chief executive Roger Woods said in the statement.
FSL Trust, which is listed on the Singapore Exchange, expects the purchase of the Anuket Amber to generate an aggregate adjusted Ebitda of $8m over the entire period of the charter.
“Whilst the vessel does not feature the most advanced fuel technologies, the long-term charter of eight years provides secure long-term cash flows to the Trust and creates value for the unitholders,” Woods added.
The Anuket Amber is currently listed in the fleet of UK-based Norbulk Shipping.
