With its ageing fleet on steady employment, FSL Trust is looking at its options.
The Singaporean product tanker owner reported on Thursday a first-half profit of $1.8m, following a quarter where each of its eight vessels were employed on bareboat charter to UK owner James Fisher Everard.
But those eight ships have an average age of 17 years and a dollar-weighted average of three more years left on each of their charters, prompting the chairman Stathis Topouzoglou to think about the company’s future.
“Following the completion of the strategy to dispose of the older vessels without long-term employment, FSL Trust is now focused on assessing new project opportunities,” he said in a statement alongside first-half earnings.
“As we have highlighted in the past the regulatory environment is still evolving to bring shipping in line with global emission targets in the face of the accelerating changes to the world’s climate. In July 2023, new emission targets were set for the industry by the regularity body of the IMO.”
Those older, disposed-of vessels include the 47,500-dwt FSL Singapore (built 2006), the 20,000-dwt FSL London (built 2006) and the 115,000-dwt FSL Hong Kong (built 2007).
All three were sold in the last 15 months, with the FSL Singapore sold for $17.7m, the FSL London for $12.1m and the FSL Hong Kong for $16.9m, according to VesselsValue.
The company’s remaining fleet has a value of $42m.
Its two oldest ships, the 13,000-dwt Cumbrian Fisher (built 2004) and the Clyde Fisher (built 2005) are FSL Trust’s first to come off charter, both at the end of 2024.
Its other six ships have coverage through at least the end of 2025, with the 9,600-dwt Pelican Fisher (built 2008) on a firm contract through 2029 and the 5,400-dwt Shannon Fisher and Solway Fisher (both built 2006) with multi-year options taking them through 2028.
The first half profit was lower than the $2.2m reported for the first half of 2022.
The bottom line was boosted, in part, due to a revision to the gain on disposal of $401,000 for the FSL London, FSL Hong Kong and the 20,000-dwt FSL New York (built 2006), which was sold in 2021.
The first six months of 2023 saw FSL Trust generate $4.1m of revenue, down from $13.4m in the same period last year.
The company said sentiment in the product tanker market has weakened since the first half of last year, but that rates remain at satisfactory levels.
