HAMILTON, Bermuda, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Arlington Tankers Ltd. announced today that Stena Bulk AB of Sweden (Stena) has exercised options to extend the long-term charter agreements for four of the Company's vessels. Stena has exercised the first of its three one-year options for each of the Stena Companion and Stena Concord, and its 30-month option for the Stena Contest and Stena Concept.
Stena's exercise of the one-year options for the Panamax tanker, Stena Companion, and for the Product tanker, Stena Concord, extends the terms of the charters for these vessels to November 10, 2009. Stena continues to have the option to extend these charters on a vessel-by-vessel basis for two additional one-year terms. With respect to the Stena Companion, effective November 11, 2008, the basic charter rate will increase to $18,639 per day for a guaranteed 360 days per year and the fixed vessel management fee will increase to $6,989 per day through November 10, 2009. With respect to the Stena Concord, effective November 11, 2008, the basic charter rate will increase to $16,642 for a guaranteed 360 days per year and the fixed vessel management fee will increase to $6,442 per day through November 10, 2009. During the one-year charter extension, both vessels will also continue to be eligible to earn additional hire revenues through the Company's profit sharing arrangement with Stena.
Stena's exercise of the 30-month options for the Product tankers, Stena Contest and Stena Concept, extends the terms of the charters for these vessels to July 4, 2011. Stena continues to have the option to extend these charters on a vessel-by-vessel basis for two additional one-year terms. With respect to these vessels, effective January 5, 2009, the basic charter rate will decrease to $17,942 per day for a guaranteed 360 days per year and the fixed vessel management fee will increase to $6,442 per day through January 4, 2009. In addition, during the 30-month charter extension, both vessels will be eligible to earn additional hire revenues through the Company's profit sharing arrangement with Stena. Both vessels' basic charter rate and vessel management fees increase by 5% of the vessel management fees on the January 5th of each calendar year during the 30-month charter extension.
For more information regarding the terms of the Company's charters, please refer to the basic hire, base operating cost and operating margin tables included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Arlington Tankers
Arlington Tankers Ltd. is an international seaborne transporter of crude oil and petroleum products. Arlington's fleet consists exclusively of eight modern double-hulled vessels and is one of the youngest tanker fleets in the world, with an average vessel age of approximately 4.5 years. The fleet consists of two V-MAX tankers, which are specially designed very large crude carriers, two Panamax tankers and four Product tankers. All of the Company's vessels are employed on long-term time charters. The Company was incorporated in Bermuda in September 2004. The Company completed its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on November 10, 2004.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company that are based on beliefs of the Company's management as well as assumptions made by the Company and information currently available to the Company, in particular the statements regarding the additional hire that may be earned in the future, and the exercise by the charterers of options to extend the terms of the charters of certain of the Company's vessels. When used in this press release, words such as "believe," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," and "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. All statements in this document that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others: the possibility that the Company may not pay dividends, the highly cyclical nature of the tanker industry, global demand for oil and oil products, the number of newbuilding deliveries and the scrapping rate of older vessels, terrorist attacks and international hostilities, and compliance costs with environmental laws and regulations. These and other risks are described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements included in this press release. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.
Contact: Arlington Tankers Ltd. Edward Terino, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer 203-221-2765
