Dubai – Mubasher: Dubai's Gulf Navigation Holding has announced refinancing “Gulf Mishref” and “Gulf Mirdif” petrochemical carriers after it raised its capital to AED 1 billion through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in less than a month.
This move highlights the increasing demand for the company’s shipping services, which requires increasing its fleet capacity to meet the demand for its services in the region, Gulf Navigation added in a press release.
Refinancing the aforementioned two carriers is an important addition to the company's petrochemical transportation capabilities.
This has positively impacted the company's assets value, which climbed by 13% or AED 123 million to AED 1,081,948 from AED 958,956.
"Our [Gulf Navigation] ability to refinance the two carriers under the current global financial, economic, and shipping conditions is a testament to the significant transformation in the Group and the confidence of financiers and stakeholders in the company,” managing director and CEO of Gulf Navigation Khamis Juma Buamim said.
“We have promised our investors and shareholders to increase the value of our assets and the number of vessels in our fleet to make the company one of the key marine service providers in the region,” Buamim added.
The capacity of each vessel amounted to over 26,000 tonnes of chemical cargo and each of them has 29 separate tanks. Therefore, the two carriers can meet demands for long-haul transportation of petrochemicals and miscellaneous petroleum products, according to the company's managing director and CEO.
“The two vessels operate on the East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico and further trips between the West African coast and Europe. This increases the range of the markets that our specialised shipping services can reach," he continued.
Gulf Navigation will continue to boost its assets and expand its fleet to reach to 20 vessels by 2020, the company noted.
Raising the capital through the company's AED 1 billion IPO will pump continuous liquidity into Gulf Navigation to enhance its ability to expand.
“When it completes its fleet and operational equipment expansion plan, the company will become one of the largest comprehensive stops in all areas of marine services, and will be able to achieve its strategy and goals by 2021”, according to the press release.
