Two Eco-Tanker Orders for Irish Shipping Company

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday August 9, 2013

After launching an initial public offering of its stock last month, Ireland-based Ardmore Shipping Corporation [NYSE:ASC] (Ardmore) says it has exercised options to buy two environmentally friendly product tankers for about $68.5 million.

Ardmore says it expects to receive the 50,300-dead-weight-tonne (dwt) IMO 3 vessels, equipped with ballast water treatment systems, from SPP Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. of South Korea in the second and third quarters of 2015.

The company now has eight ships ordered from SPP with deliveries set to start in January 2014.

The company launched the offering of 10 million shares of its common stock, priced at $14 per share, in July.

Ardmore said some of the proceeds of the offering will help fund the cost of vessels on order in the company's initial fleet and to help pay for the expansion of the fleet.

The company has eight vessels in its current fleet: five product tankers and three chemical carriers, according to its website.