Ardmore Swings to Full-Year Loss

The soft charter market has seen Hamilton-based Ardmore Shipping Corporation book a net loss of USD 12.5 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017.

The red ink is being reported on the back of a net profit of USD 3.7 million posted in 2016.

For the fourth quarter of the year, the owner and operator of product and chemical tankers reported a loss of USD 3.8 million, basically breaking even when compared to the corresponding figure from last year.

“The charter market was soft overall for 2017, in spite of some strength during the summer months. Nevertheless, we believe that underlying fundamentals will prevail in 2018; oil demand growth remains firm as the global economy continues to strengthen and oil inventories have declined to more normalized levels, enabling trading activity to resume and re-introducing an additional layer of tonne-mile demand for MRs. Meanwhile, MR supply growth is less than 1 pct, setting the stage for a potentially strong and sustained charter market recovery,” Anthony Gurnee, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, commented.

Ardmore’s spot and pool MR tankers earned an average TCE rate of USD 12,975 per day, while eco-design chemical tankers earned an average of USD 11,949 per day for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017.

“With a strong balance sheet, modern fleet, low-cost structure and revenue days set to increase again in 2018, we believe Ardmore is well positioned to take advantage of the anticipated charter market recovery and thus generate strong returns and value accretion for our shareholders,” Gurnee added.

The company started off the year by taking delivery of its recently-acquired vessel Ardmore Sealancer. The 47,500 dwt MR product tanker, constructed at Onomichi Dockyard in 2008, was handed over to Ardmore on January 23, 2018.

With the latest addition, Ardmore’s fleet is composed of 28 vessels currently in operation, including 22 Eco MR tankers and six Eco-Design IMO 2 product/chemical tankers.