vessel’s operating expenses, including the cost of crewing, insuring, repairing and maintaining the vessel, the costs of spares and consumable stores, tonnage taxes, environmental costs and other miscellaneous expenses, and unaffiliated shipbrokers and to in-house brokers associated with the charterer for the arrangement of the relevant charter.
Our commercial policy focuses mainly on spot voyages, pool arrangements, and short- to medium-term time charters, to expose our shareholders to cyclical fluctuations in charter rates.
Management of Our Fleet
The commercial and technical management of our fleet, as well as the provision of administrative services relating to our fleet’s operations, have been carried out since March 1, 2013, by Unitized Ocean Transport Limited, or UOT, our in-house fleet manager. Pursuant to an Administrative Services Agreement, we pay UOT a fixed monthly administrative fee of $10,000, in exchange for providing us with accounting, administrative, financial reporting and other services necessary for the operation of our business. In addition, in exchange for providing us with commercial and technical services, we pay UOT a commission of 2.00% of our gross revenues, a fixed management fee of $15,000 per month for each vessel in operation and a fixed monthly fee of $7,500 for laid-up vessels, if any. These amounts are considered inter-company transactions and are, therefore, eliminated from our consolidated financial statements. In prior years, we have retained third-party managers to provide commercial and technical management for certain of our vessels. We presently do not use third-party managers.
For additional information regarding the management of our fleet, please see our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Our Fleet Development
In June and November 2019, under two separate transactions, we acquired the entities Taburao Shipping Company Inc., Tarawa Shipping Company Inc., and Rongelap Shipping Company Inc., which were affiliated with our Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Symeon Palios, for an aggregate purchase price of $21.0 million. Prior to their acquisition by us, each of the three newly-acquired entities had signed contracts to purchase one Aframax tanker vessel each, the Blue Moon, the Briolette, and the P. Fos from unaffiliated third-party sellers for a purchase price of $30.0 million, $30.0 million and $26.0 million respectively, and had paid advance deposits of $8.0 million, $2.0 million and $11.0 million, respectively, in connection therewith. In exchange for the acquisition of the aforementioned entities, we agreed to pay a price equal to the aggregate deposits previously paid to the vessels’ sellers. We paid the $21.0 million aggregate purchase price for the previously signed contracts of the Blue Moon, the Briolette, and the P. Fos in our common shares. The vessels Blue Moon and Briolette were delivered to us in August and November 2019, respectively, and P. Fos was delivered in January 2020.
Later during 2020, we acquired the tanker vessels P. Kikuma and P. Yanbu, for a purchase price of $26.0 million and $22.0 million, respectively. The vessels were delivered to us in March and December 2020, respectively.
In June 2022, we acquired the tanker vessel P. Sophia (formerly “Maran Sagitta”), a 2009-built Aframax tanker of 105,071 dwt for $27.6 million. The vessel was delivered to us in July 2022.
In August 2022, we acquired the tanker vessel P. Aliki (formerly “Alpine Amalia”), a 2010-built LR2 Aframax oil product tanker of 105,304 dwt, for $36.5 million. The vessel was delivered to us in November 2022.
In September 2022, we acquired the tanker vessel P. Monterey (formerly “Phoenix Beacon”), a 2011-built Aframax tanker vessel of 105,525 dwt, for $35 million. The vessel was delivered to us in December 2022.
In October 2022, we sold the 2007-built Aframax tanker vessel P. Fos for $34.0 million and delivered the vessel to her new owners in November 2022.
In November 2022, we acquired the tanker vessel P. Long Beach (formerly “Fos Hamilton”), a 2013-built LR2 Aframax tanker vessel of 105,408 dwt, for $43.75 million. The vessel was delivered to us in December 2022.
Our Borrowing Activities
As of the date of this prospectus, we had $127.7 million aggregate amount of indebtedness outstanding under our secured bank loan facilities, and we were in compliance with all of our loan covenants. Further, as of the date of this prospectus, we have not used any derivative instruments for hedging purposes or other purposes.