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Hamilton, Bermuda - Sept. 15, 2015 - PRNewswire
NewLead Holdings Ltd. (OTC: NEWL) ("NewLead" or the "Company") announced today that the Company has entered into a new time charter contract for one of its bitumen tanker vessels, the MT Newlead Granadino ("Newlead Granadino"), for a minimum of six months with the charterer's option to extend the contract at the end of the first six months for additional six month periods up to a maximum of eighteen months. The net charter-out rate is $10,500 for the initial six months and $10,750 for the remaining optional periods. The charter commenced on July 22, 2015.
The Newlead Granadino is a 2009-built double hull bitumen tanker vessel of 5,887 dwt and is one of the five bitumen tanker vessels that were delivered to NewLead's fleet in the fourth quarter of 2014.
When NewLead took delivery of Newlead Granadino in November 2014, the vessel was already chartered-out on a time charter agreement at a net charter-out rate of $8,900 for about nine months. From the beginning of January 2015, when that time charter agreement expired, until the latest time charter agreement, the Newlead Granadino had been trading on the spot market and had completed six voyages in the Mediterranean Sea and the United Arab Emirates area. Today, the Newlead Granadino is trading in North America where the vessel was repositioned in August 2015 to perform on the latest time charter agreement.
Upon delivery of the Newlead Granadino to NewLead in November 2014, the Company invested in the maintenance, improvement and upgrade of the vessel's condition. The vessel's improved technical condition allowed for an increase of approximately 5% in the vessel's cargo in-take capacity and a decrease in the fuel consumption for steaming and cargo heating, as well as an improvement of the speed of the vessel. The Newlead Granadino has become a more eco-friendly vessel and is expected to be more attractive to oil majors and charterers.
Since the delivery of Newlead Granadino to NewLead up until today, 158,502.35 tons of bitumen have been transported while the vessel's utilization was 94%.
Mr. Michael Zolotas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NewLead, stated, "We are pleased to have entered into a new time charter contract for the Newlead Granadino. We invested in the improvement of the technical condition of the vessel in order to ensure an improved operational and commercial performance that would permit the vessel's repositioning in North America."
The 2009-built double hull bitumen tanker vessel of 5,887 dwt "Newlead Granadino". Image by NewLead Holdings Ltd.
Mr. Zolotas added, "Today, four out of our five bitumen oil tanker vessels are in a time charter contract and one is trading spot which allows for hedging of the bitumen market fluctuations. Newlead is aiming to expand the Company's fleet with modern bitumen tankers to not only have a strong presence in the Mediterranean Sea and the United Arab Emirates area, but also in North America in order to develop on our strategic decision to be a worldwide player in the bitumen oil tanker market."
NewLead has approximately 62.06% and 80.56% of its operating days covered for 2015 and 20% and 15.27% of its operating days covered for 2016 for its dry bulk and tanker vessels, respectively.
About NewLead Holdings Ltd.
NewLead Holdings Ltd. is an international vertically integrated shipping, logistics and commodity company providing ideal solutions for seaborne transportation of dry bulk commodities and petroleum products through owned and managed vessels. NewLead controls a fleet of ten vessels, including five dry bulk and five tanker vessels and manages one third party tanker vessel. NewLead is a Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") reporting Foreign Private Issuer in compliance with applicable SEC rules and regulations and current in its SEC reporting, utilizing U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles' financial reporting standards. NewLead's common shares are traded under the symbol "NEWL" on the Over-the-Counter market. To learn more about NewLead Holdings Ltd., please visit NewLead's renewed website at www.newleadholdings.com.
NewLead Holdings Ltd. press release