d’Amico Shipping selling tanker for $14m, but will retain control

The move marks the third time in three months that d’Amico is selling one of its tankers.    d’Amico Tankers D.A.C., an Ireland-based subsidiary of international marine transportation company d’Amico International Shipping S.A. (DIS), has signed an agreement to sell MT High Presence, a 12-year-old 48,700 dwt medium-range product tanker vessel, for $4.14 million to a buyer that it has declined to name.
   The transaction, d’Amico said Nov. 27, will generate a positive cash effect, net of the reimbursement of the tanker’s existing bank loan, of around $7.2 million for d’Amico Tankers, something that the company says will contribute to the liquidity required to complete DIS’s fleet renewal program.
   In addition, d’Amico Tankers says it will retain the commercial control of the vessel through an already agreed upon six year time-charter agreement with the buyer. 
   “The sale of this 12-year-old vessel is perfectly in line with our strategy of maintaining a very young owned fleet, through the gradual replacement of some of our existing vessels with the newbuildings we have ordered in the recent years,” d’Amico International Shipping CEO Marco Fiori said.
   This deal is also consistent with the company’s goal of strengthening its liquidity position, as it will generate a positive net cash effect of over $7 million in the last quarter of the year, Fiori said.
   Currently, d’Amico International’s fleet is composed of 56.5 double-hulled product tankers, with an average age of about 7.7 years, according to the company. Of that amount, 28 are vessels that it owns, while 25.5 are chartered-in vessels and the other three being bareboat chartered-in vessels.
   d’Amico Tankers currently has shipbuilding contracts with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. Ltd., for the construction of five long range product tankers with expected delivery between late 2017 and 2018.
   This is the third time in three months that d’Amico has reported that it is selling a tanker, following the early October sale of the MT High Prosperity, a 48,700-deadweight-ton medium-range product tanker vessel for $14.2 million USD and late September’s sale and leaseback of the 12-year-old MT High Priority, a 46,847 dwt medium-range product tanker vessel, for $13 million USD.