TOP Ships Inc., an international owner and operator of modern, fuel efficient “ECO” tanker vessels currently focusing on the transportation of crude oil and petroleum products, announced Thursday (Oct 25) that it has agreed to enter into time charter employment with Clearlake Shipping Pte Ltd for its product/chemical tanker M/T Eco Fleet.
The vessel will be employed for a firm period of 36 months plus two additional 12 month periods, at the charterer’s option. The revenue backlog expected to be generated by this fixture, assuming all options are exercised, is about $25 million.
Evangelos Pistiolis, the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company, said: “We are happy to have concluded a new fixture with a high quality charterer which, in line with our strategy, further extends our charter coverage. Following this fixture, total gross revenue backlog for the fixed charter period of operating vessels, from June 30, 2018, stands at about $211 million, increasing to about $225 million when adding the 50% of our joint venture vessels.”
Following the above- mentioned time charters, the Company’s projected charter coverage is as follows:
| Year | Operating fleet | Operating fleet including vessels partly owned through joint ventures |
| 2018 | 100% | 100% |
| 2019 | 92% | 93% |
| 2020 | 91% | 92% |
| 2021 | 53% | 51% |
| 2022 | 14% | 12% |
| 2023 | 8% | 7% |
| 2024 | 2% | 2% |
Source: TOP Ship