Danish owner Norden has moved to grow its tanker fleet in what it describes as a weakinging market with the acquisition of a 2009-built 50,000 dwt MR product tanker, the first addition to its tanker fleet this year.
The South Korean-built ship is due to be delivered to Norden in July, when it will be renamed Nord Pearl.
Norden has also entered into long term charter agreements for a further two MR product tanker newbuildings, giving it a total of four chartrered newbuilds scheduled for delivery from 2018 through to 2020. All agreements include purchase options.
Jan Rindbo, CEO of Norden, commented: “Norden used the strong tanker market in 2015 and first half of 2016 to take cover. The increase in cover led to a decrease in capacity for 2017 and onwards, but in the wake of the weakening market, Norden has taken advantage of the reduced tonnage prices to increase our capacity and exposure at attractive cost levels. We can do this in the comfort of having an excellent product tanker operating arm in form of Norient Product Pool, and benefit of the premium earnings that they generate.”
Norden’s tanker fleet currently consists of 36 vessels, with 19 of them owned.