American tanker operator International Seaways has revealed it is the company taking six modern Euronav VLCCs for $434m on the back of the latter’s move to acquire Gener8 Maritime. The six 300,000 dwt ships have an average age of 1.7 years and all of them were built at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
The deal, scheduled to go through in the first half of next year, will see the average age of the International Seaways fleet reduce by more than two years while expanding the size of the fleet by 30% on a dwt basis. The International Seaways fleet will hit 60 ships with this acquisition.
The company’s president Lois Zabrocky described the deal as a “compelling” en bloc transaction.
Euronav decided to sell the six ships to preserve the company’s liquidity as it went about a $504m deal to take over tanker rival Gener8 Maritime.
