Navios Proving It’s a Good Time to Be in the Tanker Business

International tanker owner and operator Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation (Navios Acquisition) is proving that it’s a good time to be in the tanker business, having recently announced the employment of seven product tankers at increased rates and a two-year charter for its recently delivered VLCC, Nave Photon.

In the case of the product tankers, Navios Acquisition said the seven vessels, comprising four LR1 and three MR2 tankers, have had their charters extended at rates increased by approximately 22% on average. Navios Acquisition estimates that together the vessels are expected generate approximately $33.4 million of aggregate EBITDA over the duration of the charters, which are 3 years in the case of the LR1s and 1 year for the MR2s.

The company has also announced this week the 2008-built VLCC, Nave Photon (297,395 dwt), delivered to the company earlier this month, has been scooped up for two years at a rate of $40,488 net per day. The company says the vessel is expected to generate approximately $21.8 million of aggregate EBITDA during this charter.

The two announcements come after the company reported net income of $69.6 million for the first nine months of 2015 and $23.2 million for the third quarter of 2015. For comparison, Navios reported a net loss of almost $14 million in the first nine months of 2014 and a net income of just $1.7 million in Q3 2014.

Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Acquisition, hailed the “record” figures as “material improvements over the comparable periods in 2014”.

Nave Photon is one of two VLCCs Navios Acquisition agreed to acquire in Q3 2015. The other vessel, the 2009-built Nave Spherical (297,188 dwt), was delivered to the company in early November and has since been chartered out for two years at a rate of $41,475 net per day.

With the delivery of the two VLCCs, Navios Acquisition now has 39 vessels on-the-water, comprising of eight VLCCs, 27 product tankers and four chemical tankers. 

The news from Navios Acquisition comes as Navios’ dry cargo/container vessel and dry bulk vessel business units, Navios Maritime Partners and Navios Maritime Holdings, respectively, continue to suffer through record slumps within their own sectors.

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