We are a leading provider of international seaborne crude oil transportation
services. We also provide transportation services for refined petroleum products.
Our fleet consists of 30 wholly-owned vessels: seven VLCCs, 12 Suezmax vessels,
eight Aframax vessels, two Panamax vessels, and one Handymax vessel. The weighted-average
age of our fleet was 8.3 years. These vessels have a total of 5.1 million dwt
carrying capacity on a combined basis and all are double-hulled. We also chartered-in
three product tankers (the “Chartered-in Vessels”). The weighted-average
age of the Chartered-in Vessels was 7.1 years. The Chartered-in Vessels, which
are double-hulled, have a total of 0.1 million dwt carrying capacity on a combined
basis. Many of the vessels in our fleet are “sister ships”, which
provide us with operational and scheduling flexibility, as well as economies
of scale in their operation and maintenance. Our customers include major international
oil companies and vessel owners such as BP, CITGO Petroleum Corp., ConocoPhillips,
Exxon Mobil Corporation, Hess Corporation, Lukoil Oil Company, Shell, Stena
AB and Trafigura.
We employ one of the largest fleets in the Atlantic basin. Vessels owned by
us operate in ports in the Caribbean, South and Central America, the United
States, West Africa, the Mediterranean, Europe and the North Sea. We have focused
our operations in the Atlantic because we believe that our stringent operating
and safety standards represent a potential competitive advantage. Transportation
of crude oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast and other refining centers in the United
States requires vessel owners and operators to meet more stringent environmental
regulations than in other regions of the world. Our fleet operates in every
major tanker market. We believe this enables us to take advantage of market
opportunities and helps us to position our vessels in anticipation of drydockings.
We actively monitor market conditions and changes in charter rates, and manage
the deployment of our vessels between spot market voyage charters, which generally
last from several days to several weeks, and time charters, which generally
last one to three years. Our strategy is intended to provide greater cash flow
stability through the use of time charters for part of our fleet, while maintaining
the flexibility to benefit from improvements in market rates by deploying the
balance of our vessels in the spot market.
Seven of our VLCCs currently operate in the Seawolf Tankers commercial pool
managed by Heidmar, Inc. (“Heidmar”). Two of these vessels entered
the pool via period charters. Commercial pools are designed to provide for effective
chartering and commercial management of similar vessels that are combined into
a single fleet to improve customer service, increase vessel utilization and
capture cost efficiencies.
We strive to optimize the financial performance of our fleet by deploying our
vessels on time charters, including through commercial pool arrangements, and
in the spot market. We believe that our fleet deployment strategy provides us
with the ability to benefit from increases in tanker rates while at the same
time maintaining a measure of stability through cycles in the industry.
We employ experienced management in all functions critical to our operations,
aiming to provide a focused marketing effort, tight quality and cost controls
and effective operations and safety monitoring. Through our wholly-owned subsidiaries,
General Maritime Management LLC and General Maritime Management (Portugal) Lda,
we currently provide the commercial and technical management necessary for the
operations of our General Maritime Subsidiary Vessels (except for the Genmar
Harriet G), which include ship maintenance, officer staffing, crewing, technical
support, shipyard supervision, and risk management services through our wholly-owned
subsidiaries.
Our crews inspect our vessels and perform ordinary course maintenance, both
at sea and in port. We regularly inspect our vessels. We examine each vessel
and make specific notations and recommendations for improvements to the overall
condition of the vessel, maintenance of the vessel and safety and welfare of
the crew. We have an in-house safety staff to oversee these functions.
