Pyxis Expects Modest Upward Trend in Chartering

Greece-based Pyxis Tankers said it expects chartering activity to continue to be choppy but with a modest upward trend, especially for the second half of 2018.

Consequently, the company took the opportunity to time charter all of its MRs at decent rates on a short-term basis with an average of approximately USD 14,900 per day.

“We believe this employment strategy positions us to take advantage of improving rates later this year. Overall, we continue to believe in a longer term, sustainable improvement in charter rates as a result of attractive market fundamentals,” Valentios Valentis, Chairman and CEO, said.

During the fourth quarter of 2017, the company managed to shrink its net loss to USD 1.4 million, from a net loss of USD 5.8 million reported in the same period in 2016. The improvement was primarily due to the non-cash vessel impairment charge of USD 4 million that was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016 related to the write down of the carrying amount of Northsea Alpha and Northsea Beta to their fair values.

The company’s time charter equivalent revenues were USD 5.4 million in the quarter, up from USD 4.5 million reported a year earlier.

For the year ended December 31, 2017, Pyxis Tankers reported a net loss of USD 5.2 million, compared to a net loss of USD 5.8 million for the same period in 2016.

“Our operating results for the fourth quarter of 2017 reflected a slight improvement over the comparable period in 2016. Spot charter rates for medium range tankers continued to be challenging during the quarter, but improved towards period end,” Valentis added.

In late February 2018, the company said it refinanced the bank loans for three of its tankers, the Northsea Alpha, the Northsea Beta and the Pyxis Malou under a new 5-year USD 20.5 million secured term loan with a new commercial bank.

“In the near-term, we will continue to pursue cost-effective, growth capital to further improve our liquidity and selectively acquire MR2s. We remain optimistic about the fundamentals of the product tanker market and believe that Pyxis Tankers is positioned to take advantage of them.”