Performance Shipping orders LNG-ready Aframax
US-listed shipping company Performance Shipping has signed a $62.2mn contract with China Shipbuilding Trading Company and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Company for the construction of an LNG-ready LR2 Aframax product/crude oil tanker, it said on March 8.
The 114,000 dwt vessel will be equipped with an electronic main engine with a high-pressure selective catalytic reactor for tier III compliance, an exhaust gas cleaning system for tier II compliance, and a ballast water treatment system. The company expects to take delivery of the vessel during the fourth quarter of 2025.
“This contract is consistent with our view that historically low tanker fleet growth in the next few years and an aging fleet during a high seaborne trade demand period will result in sustainably strong fundamentals and higher asset values,” CEO Andreas Michalopoulos said.
Performance Shipping will pay 15% of the purchase price upon receipt of a refund guarantee, expected to occur within 30 days; 10% of the purchase price is payable at each of the milestones of steel cutting, keel laying and launching of the vessel, and the remaining 55% of the purchase price is payable upon the vessel’s delivery.