Presentation

American Shipping Company, established in 2005, is a ship-owning company that charters its vessels out on bareboat charters in the Jones Act market. The Aker ASA subsidiary Aker Capital is the largest shareholder, with ~19% of the shares. The company is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange.

Currently, the company’s fleet consists of ten vessels: nine handysize product tankers and one handysize shuttle tanker. The average age of the fleet is 12.5 years. All units are chartered out to Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) and operated in the US Jones Act tanker market.
Five of the product tanker contracts expire in December 2022, and four in December 2023. The shuttle tanker, 'Overseas Tampa', is chartered out until 2025.

With only one counterparty, American Shipping Company is significantly exposed to OSG’s credit risk. However, it should be highlighted that OSG’s track record on the matter is solid, given that it went through Chapter 11 in 2012-2014 and continued to fix vessels and honor its charter contracts with American Shipping Company. All contracts include lifelong extension options.

AMSC's business model gives good financial visibility in ordinary market conditions. The nature of the leasing business normally limits upside potential, with focus being on counterparty credit risk. Still, it should be noted that the company has entered a profit-sharing agreement with OSG, to ensure some exposure to improved market conditions.