FSL Trust Provides Information On Leases With BLT Subsidiaries

Singapore, 31 January 2012 – FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd. (“FSLTM”), the Trustee-Manager of First Ship Lease Trust (“FSL Trust”), refers to the announcement made on 26 January 2012 by PT Berlian Laju Tanker TBK (“BLT”) on its debt restructuring and debt standstill plans.

FSL Trust currently leases three chemical tankers, namely, Pertiwi, Prita Dewi and Pujawati to wholly-owned subsidiaries of BLT (the “Lessees”). The obligations of the Lessees under the lease agreements are guaranteed by BLT. The leases accounted for 12.8% of FSL Trust’s total revenue for FY2011.

FSL Trust has received all its lease payments due for the month of January 2012 and the next lease payments from the Lessees are due in the first week of February 2012. FSLTM has noted the announcement released by BLT and is seeking clarification from them. FSLTM would like to highlight that in the event that the lease payments from the Lessees for the month of February 2012 are not received, such event will not cause FSL Trust to be unable to continue to service the debt obligations under its loan agreement.

FSLTM is monitoring the situation and will take strenuous action to ensure that the Lessees will continue to abide by their contractual obligations to make payments on their lease agreements. FSLTM will make further announcements as and when there are material developments in this matter.

About First Ship Lease Trust
(Bloomberg: FSLT SP; Reuters: FSLT.SI; OTCQX: FSHPY)

First Ship Lease Trust (“FSL Trust” or the “Trust”) is a provider of leasing services on a long-term bareboat charter basis to the international shipping industry. The Trust has a diversified portfolio of 25 modern and high quality vessels, comprising of seven containerships, eleven product tankers, three chemical tankers, two dry bulk carriers and two crude oil tankers. Of these, 23 vessels are leased to eight reputable international shipping companies on long-term bareboat charter basis and two vessels are presently deployed in the product tanker spot market.

FSL Trust is managed by FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd., the trustee-manager. The trustee-manager aims to grow and diversify the Trust’s portfolio through accretive acquisitions of vessel with leases, to increase predictable cashflow generation and to provide sustainable regular cash distributions to unitholders of the Trust.

FSL Trust is listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST) and its American Depository Receipts are quoted on the PrimeQX tier of International OTCQX. FSL Trust is a component stock of the FTSE ST Maritime Index.

First Ship Lease Trust press release