Presidents summary of the year

Concordia Maritime underwent a dramatic transformation during a very eventful 2003. The focus on first-class and cost-effective tanker transportation based on quality and safety continues.

The sale of the two remaining tankers in the so-called Concordia Class to the offshore industry in January, 2004, means that our fleet will no longer contain any of these old vessels. The superb quality of the tankers enabled the Concordia Class fleet to continue trading when many other competitors were forced to scrap vessels of the same age at the end of the 1990s. The greater part of the profits were generated just during these final 3-4 years. The Concordia Class fleet leaves behind it, apart from a solid reputation, very experienced and competent crews and a skilled shipping team.

Today, we have two large VLCCs, V-MAX, employed on profitable charters, which have proved to be a financial and operational success. Their 3-year charter with Sunoco expires during the summer and the prospects of continued good earnings are extremely good, given the current market.

The order of six P-MAX product tankers placed during the year is another step in the creation of a fleet of the market�s safest tankers designed and built according to the so-called MAX concept. The MAX concept provides the highest safety by doubling all critical components such as engines, steering systems, etc. The design of the tankers, with double rudders and propellers, gives them far superior manoeuvrability.
In addition to these quality advantages, the MAX tankers have a large loading capacity on a limited draught, which makes them very efficient economically.

The French oil company TOTAL has been our partner in studies on and the design of the P-MAX tankers and has time-chartered two of them for five years.

Our objective is to continue to build up our operations around the MAX concept, in existing and new ship sizes, for and together with existing and new customers.