Greek shipping and logistics company NewLead Holdings has bought and leased five bitumen tankers, expanding its fleet to ten vessels in less than a year.

NewLead bought three bitumen tankers, the 5887dwt Captain Nikolas I, the 3,416dwt Nepheli and the 2,888dwt Sofia, for a purchase price of approximately US$21m, to be paid through a combination of equity and debt financing.

The other two bitumen tankers, the 3,370dwt Ioli and the 3,337dwt Katerina L, were added to NewLead's fleet following two separate bareboat/leasing agreements. NewLead has the option to buy the two tankers at any time during the duration of the bareboat/leasing agreements, but has the obligation to buy both vessels at the end of the charters for a minimum of US$6.05m together with the payment of any remaining unpaid trade debt on both vessels.

NewLead will pay around US$4.23m for the delivery of the last two tankers, financed through the issuance of shares of common stock of the company.

Four of the five vessels, the Captain Nikolas I, the Nepheli, the Ioli and the Katerina L, were built in 2009 and the Sofia was built in 2008. NewLead has been managing the Captain Nikolas I and the Sofia for over a year. The remaining three vessels were delivered to NewLead's fleet at various times during the fourth quarter of 2014.

The gross earnings from the employment of all five vessels are expected to be US$12.65m per year. All five vessels are expected to generate an aggregate of approximately US$5.61m of EBITDA per year assuming an aggregate of US$7.04m of yearly operating expenses.

Four of the five bitumen tanker vessels are trading on the spot market and the Nepheli is on a period time charter until August 2015.

According to Michael Zolotas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NewLead, NewLead's current average fleet age is 7.39 years compared to 17.84 years at the beginning of 2014. NewLead invested in young, high quality sophisticated bitumen tanker vessels to capture opportunities in emerging economies and niche markets with relatively low competition. NewLead's long term relationships with oil majors and fuel oil companies will allow responsiveness to market opportunities as well as support its commitment to continue to grow its fleet.