Singapore: FSL Announces Redelivery of Chemical Tanker from BLT

FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd. announces that, as of 5 March 2012, ‘Pertiwi’, one of the three 19,900 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers previously leased to a subsidiary of Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk (“BLT”), has been redelivered to FSL Trust and will be renamed ‘FSL New York’.

FSLTM has appointed Columbia Shipmanagement (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (“CSM”) as technical manager of ‘FSL New York’. The vessel will be commercially managed by Copenhagen-based Nordic Tankers Management A/S (“Nordic Tankers”) for an interim period before entering the ‘Nordic Siva’ pool managed by Nordic Tankers.

In the pool structure, Nordic Tankers will commercially manage ‘FSL New York’ together with similar vessels belonging to other owners. Net earnings will be distributed monthly to FSL Trust and the other vessel owners based on the features of each contributing vessel in accordance with a pool point system. Initial cargoes for ‘FSL New York’ have been booked and the first voyage after redelivery will commence soon.

The remaining two chemical tankers, previously leased to subsidiaries of BLT, are expected to be redelivered to FSL Trust shortly and will also be technically managed by CSM and placed in the ‘Nordic Siva’ pool. CSM is an affiliate of Schoeller Holdings, which is the largest shareholder of FSL Holdings Pte. Ltd., the Sponsor of FSL Trust2.

Mr. Vijay Kamath, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of FSLTM said: “The pool arrangement with Nordic Tankers is expected to provide FSL Trust with more certainty of cash flows compared to deploying the vessels in the spot market. We believe that this is particularly relevant in the highly specialised chemical tanker market. Our asset deployment strategy takes into consideration stability of cash flows and profitability based on prevailing and expected market conditions.”

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World Maritime News Staff, March 6, 2012; Image: FSL