Seanergy reported that, taking advantage of the current strong market conditions, it has fixed one more of its Capesize vessels, the M/V Worldship, under a fixed-rate time charter with a world-leading U.S. commodity trading company, which is already amongst the Company’s charterers.
Moreover, Seanergy successfully concluded the financing of two of its new acquisitions, the 2012-built Capesize M/V Hellasship and the 2010-built M/V Patriotship through a sale and leaseback agreement with a major Chinese financial institution.
The M/V Worldship has been fixed on a T/C with a world-leading U.S. commodity trading company, at a gross daily rate of $31,750 for a period of about 12-16 months. The T/C is expected to commence immediately upon the M/V Worldship’s upcoming delivery, which is anticipated within August 2021.
Financing of the M/V Hellasship and the M/V Patriotship
The Vessels were sold and chartered back on a bareboat basis for a five-year period and the combined financing amount is $30.9 million and the applicable interest rate is LIBOR + 3.50%. Following the second anniversary of the bareboat charter, the Company has continuous options to repurchase the Vessels while at the end of the 5-year bareboat period, it has the option to repurchase the two vessels for $15.3 million in total.
Stamatis Tsantanis, the Company’s Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, stated:
“I am very pleased to announce these important transactions for our Company. The debt financings we have secured so far for our recent vessel acquisitions are competitively priced and conservatively structured, resulting in low break-even rates that enhance our significant free cash-flow generating capacity.
On the chartering front, we are taking advantage of the current strong rate environment to increase exposure to fixed-rate T/Cs. The M/V Worldship is the second vessel that will be deployed in a T/C with duration longer than 12 months and at a fixed rate exceeding $30,000/ day. The repeat business with our existing charterers affirms the operating and commercial excellence of our Capesize fleet. Following the delivery of the M/V Worldship to her charterer, 93% percent of our fleet will be employed under medium to long-term time charters.
The consistent implementation of our strategy through 2021 is delivering significant value to the Company. We continue to explore partnerships and opportunities to further increase value for our shareholders.”