International Seaways remains confident of closing the purchase of six VLCCs from Gener8 Maritime.

New York-listed Seaways inked a $434m swoop for the Chinese-built ships in December and is looking to take on existing debt on the ships.

Lois Zabrocky, chief executive of the shipowner, said: “We continue to prepare for a second quarter 2018 closing and intend to fund the six-vessel acquisition with a combination of available liquidity, the assumption of the debt currently secured by the vessels, and other debt financing sources.”