SinOceanic III AS (Sino III), a wholly owned subsidiary of SinOceanic Shipping ASA, took delivery of MSC Regulus (13.100TEU) today and placed her on a 15 years bareboat charter party with MSC SA, Geneva, the world’s second largest container line, at a rate of USD 46.650,- daily.

The purchase price of MSC Regulus (USD 156.000.000) and the initial working capital requirements of Sino III have been financed by a USD 100 million secured 1st priority loan which carries an interest of 12% p.a. the first year, and 11% p.a. the second optional year.

In addition, the Company has arranged for a USD 20 million secured 2nd priority mezzanine loan which also carries an interest of 12%p.a., and a USD 44 million secured 3rd priority loan which carries an interest of 19%p.a and a back-end fee in the amount of USD one million, payable at maturity . Also these loans have a tenor of one option one year.

The latter loan has been provided by Oceanus International Investment AS (“Oceanus”), the largest shareholder in the Company, and is without recourse to the Company. The loan is re-financeable, and it is the Company’s intention to seek to refinance this loan once the equity markets normalize.

It is also the objective of Sino III to refinance the senior and mezzanine loans with bank financing in China or elsewhere as soon as practicably possible and in accordance with the terms of the loans. The work to refinance these loans is already in progress.

With the delivery of the MSC Regulus, the Company completes its present vessel acquisition program.

The Company now operates four container vessels with a total container carrying lifting capacity of 44.000 (TEU) containers consisting of YM Portland (4,440TEU), MSC Vega, MSC Altair and MSC Regulus, which are three Very Large Container Ships (VLCS) each of 13,100 TEU carrying capacity. The fleet makes the Company a top tier container ship provider in Europe.

Total aggregated fixed freight income from the vessels in the fleet is projected to approximately USD one billion over the charter party periods, and the annual EBITDA is estimated to be USD 60 million.