Hafnia Repurchases Five of its Vessels

Singapore's BW Group subsidiary, Hafnia, has announced the repurchase of several vessels following a record-breaking profit year, the second in succession.

Listed in Oslo and managing a fleet of approximately 130 vessels, Hafnia has initiated the repurchase of five tankers that were previously part of lease financing agreements.

Led by Mikael Skov, the company is reclaiming the MR tankers, Hafnia Viridian and Hafnia Violette, from sale and leaseback arrangements with Jiangsu Financial Leasing, in addition to two handysize ships, Hafnia Alabaster and Hafnia Aragonite, through a deal with CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping.

The latest repurchase was for the 2016-built handysize tanker Hafnia Achroite, also part of an agreement with CSSC Shipping.

In 2023, Hafnia reported an unprecedented profit of $793.3 million, achieving its highest annual result for the second consecutive year. By the end of the year, the company's portfolio included 116 owned tankers, with a brokerage value of $4.9 billion.

Similarly, other owners of product tankers have been leveraging the strong market fundamentals to extricate vessels from sale-and-leaseback agreements. Scorpio Tankers, under the leadership of Emanuele Lauro and boasting a fleet of 111 vessels, has embarked on an extensive repurchasing campaign, recently exercising purchase options for four ships through AVIC Leasing to reduce debt.