STEALTHGAS INC., a ship-owning company serving primarily the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) sector of the international shipping industry, announced yesterday the following new charter arrangements for the Gas Arctic, Gas Czar, Gas Icon, Gas Emperor and Gas Moxie.
New Charter Arrangements:
Commencing in December 2010, the Gas Arctic will commence a one year time charter to a chemical company. Commencing in December, the Gas Czar commenced a 30 to 90 days time charter to a Far Eastern trading house. Commencing in December, the Gas Icon commenced a series of short time charters to an international LPG trader. These will run until mid February or mid March 2011. Commencing in December, the Gas Emperor commenced a series of short term time charters to an international LPG trader. These will run until mid February or mid March 2011. Commencing in December, the Gas Moxie commenced a two month time charter to a Far East trading group. The charter has the option to extend for a further month.
The average time charter equivalent rate for the above five charters is $249,338 per calendar month or $8,202 per day.
Financing of LPG new buildings.
The Company announced today that it has secured committed financing for the post delivery finance for the first three LPG new buildings to be delivered in February, March and July 2011 from one of its existing lenders. The Company has also signed a term sheet agreeing terms with a new lender for the post delivery financing of the fourth and fifth vessels due for delivery in November 2011 and May 2012. This facility has been approved by the Bank’s Credit Committee and is awaiting final ratification by the Bank’s Board of Directors which is expected to be received shortly.
Departure of CFO Andrew Simmons.
The Company also announces that following discussions regarding the renewal of our CFO Andrew Simmons’ contract in 2011, Mr Simmons has indicated that he will not be renewing his contract next year and as a consequence his contract has been terminated by mutual consent. Mr. Simmons will leave the Company at the end of January 2011. The Company would like to thank Andrew for his contribution to the growth of the Company during his time with us and to wish him continued success in the future.
CEO Harry Vafias commented:
“I am pleased to announce further period charters for five of our vessels and in particular, the one year time charter for the Gas Arctic. Securing this employment for her is I believe a positive sign along with the other charters we have announced today which are at quite attractive levels in terms of income. Following these fixtures I am pleased to announce that we now only have five ships trading in the spot market and currently all of these ships are fully utilized.
“I am also pleased to announce that we have secured financing for the first three of the new LPG vessels to be delivered to us next year from one of our existing lenders and that we are very close to securing the financing for the last two. We have seen significant appetite for these financings from a wide group of banks and I am particularly pleased it would seem we have added another lender to the Company’s banking profile. I would like to thank both banks for their support as well as the other banks that offered us facilities.”