DHT Holdings bags financing for future-fit VLCC quartet

Bermuda-headquartered crude oil tanker company DHT Holdings has entered into a $308.4 million senior secured credit facility for the post-delivery financing of four of the company’s newbuilds currently under construction in South Korea.

The vessels in question are a quartet of environmentally friendly very large crude carriers (VLCCs) booked by DHT Holdings in February last year from South Korean giants HD Hyundai Samho, part of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (HD KSOE), and Hanwha Ocean.

The vessels, presently under the names of DHT Addax, Antelope, Gazelle and Impala, are planned to be handed over in 2026. Two boast a capacity of 320,000 dwt and the other pair will have a capacity of 319,000 dwt. As previously divulged, the ships will be Tier III compliant, with class-ready notations for multiple fuels.

As disclosed, the credit facility is co-arranged by ING Bank and Nordea Bank Abp. The maturity date of the facility for each vessel is 12 years from the delivery date, with a 20-year repayment profile.

Speaking about this development, President and Chief Executive Officer of DHT Holdings Svein Moxnes Harfjeld remarked that the financing agreement played an ‘important role’ in regards to the company’s fleet renewal and fleet expansion plans, which have intensified for the past couple of years.

As informed, DHT’s fleet currently consists of over 20 crude oil tankers in the VLCC segment, which are operated through the maritime transport player’s wholly owned ship management companies in Monaco, Norway, Singapore, and India.

In the face of increasingly stringent environmental regulations, including the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Net Zero Framework (NZF), DHT Holdings has set sights on both improving the ecological performance of the existing units in its fleet and on booking brand-new, future-proof ships.

When it comes to retrofitting efforts, by August 2023, DHT revealed that it had fitted exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS), also known as scrubbers, across its entire fleet.

As Offshore Energy previously reported, DHT had poured money into scrubbers as part of a strategy of reaping premiums from higher fuel price spreads. The company had also sold some of its older units the previous year as a way to ‘boost’ fleet efficiency.