Performance Shipping net income nearly quadruples as tanker market looks sustainable

Greek tanker owner Performance Shipping led-by chairperson of its board Aliki Paliou has entered into a time charter contract with SeaRiver Maritime, a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation, for its LR2 aframax tanker P. Long Beach, a 105,408-dwt vessel, built in 2013.

Under the terms of the agreement, the vessel will be chartered for a period of 24 months, plus or minus 30 days at the charterer’s option, at a daily gross charter rate of $30,500.

The vessel will be delivered to SeaRiver upon redelivery from her previous charterer, expected to be around mid-December 2025.

The Greek shipowner said that this new charter increases the company’s fleetwide secured revenue backlog by approximately $21.35m for the minimum duration of the charter, further enhancing the company’s total revenue.

Andreas Michalopoulos, Performance Shipping chief executive officer, said: “We are pleased to announce that one of our two Aframax tankers, currently operating under medium-term charters expiring in December, has been rechartered well ahead of schedule at an attractive charter rate.

“This new time charter highlights our long-standing and mutually beneficial partnership with ExxonMobil Corporation, a leading energy major with whom we have conducted repeat business, reaffirming the Charterer’s continued confidence in the quality, safety, and reliability of our fleet operations.

“Concluded in a seasonally strong market environment, this charter reflects both the favorable market dynamics and a positive outlook for our sector. It enables us to further optimize our fleet deployment strategy, increasing our fleet-wide total secured revenue backlog to approximately US$257 million, based on the minimum duration of each charter as of October 1, 2025.

“This contract also increases our fixed charter coverage to approximately 52% for 2026 and 41% for 2027, pending secured employment for our recently acquired Suezmax tankers, and lowers our cash flow breakeven rate for open days.”