A handysize owned by Greece’s Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) has had its existing timecharter extended by a further two years by a “major state oil company”.
The contract has been renewed for around $17,808/day or $13m in total gross revenues, a 20% premium on the original fixture. The extension period commences this month.
The vessel is likely to be TEN’s Didimon (37,400 dwt, built 2005), according to fixture data. The ship has been on timecharter to Ecuador’s state shipping company Flopec, which exclusively carries all imported and exported crude oil and products from Ecuador for state-owned oil company PetroEcuador.
Didimon was originally fixed on a one-year timecharter in June 2014 at a gross rate of $14,900 per day, which is around 20% less than the rate fixed for the vessel’s charter extension.
In July, TEN fixed a suezmax vessel and four of its MR tankers to “major European and North American oil concerns” for average periods of 24 months. The MRs were reportedly chartered to Shell.
“This new charter extension with its associated rate increase together with the recent announcement of the five charters is a confirmation that the tanker markets’ prospects remain strong. The sustained pressure in oil prices continues to encourage a healthy activity in global oil imports and as a result offers incremental benefits to companies with strong spot exposure like TEN due to the material decrease in the cost of bunkers,” George Saroglou, TEN’s COO, said in a statement.
“We remain confident on the continued strength in the tanker markets over the foreseeable future as we enter the seasonally strong fourth quarter with market fundamentals well balanced and with most of our vessels optimally positioned to take advantage of upcoming charter opportunities.”
