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For the realization of a long-term charter agreement, the New York- and Euronext-listed tanker company Euronav has placed[ds_preview] a newbuilding order at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI). The shipowner announced that it has signed two time charter contracts of seven years each with Valero Energy Inc. for Suezmax vessels with specialised Ice Class 1C capability starting in 2018.

In order to fulfil this contract, Euronav has ordered two vessels from Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea. Additional specifications for these vessels include substantially increased steel structure, specific emissions controls and other bespoke operational capabilities.

Delivery of these vessels are expected in early 2018 when each of the time charter contracts will begin. Obviously there have been long negotiations around the order. »Over many months of price discovery, management believes that the Company has secured an excellent price for two high specification vessels in line with its policy of not adding net new capacity to the global tanker fleet«, the company added. CEO Paddy Rodgers said: »Euronav and its predecessors have been serving the Quebec refinery with purpose built new buildings since 1998. In a world of continuous change our commitment to serve our customer remains a constant point«.

Furthermore Euronav has agreed with HHI to defer the delivery of the two VLCC ex-yard resale vessels it recently purchased to the first quarter of 2017.

»Thanks to the excellent relationship that the company enjoys with HHI, these vessels, previously expected to be delivered between October and November 2016, will now be delivered in January 2017«, Euronav stated. Pursuant to these deferred deliveries, the amount of approximately 97mill. $ that was previously expected to be paid to the shipyard during the fourth quarter of 2016 is now expected to be paid in the first quarter of 2017.

Hugo De Stoop, CFO, said: »Euronav is pleased to have come to this agreement with HHI. It is, in fact, hard to understand why anyone would think of taking delivery of a ship in the last two to three months of the year given the importance that the vintage year has on the value of any ship. It makes sense for any ship owner to do this, and would assist in smoothing out the world order book going forward. Euronav is pleased to capture two vessels with a 2017 vintage and further rejuvenate our wider VLCC fleet with two high specification vessels and, as they are resales, it is done without increasing the size of the world fleet.«