Teekay Tankers has splashed out $230m on five modern aframax tankers.

It said the vessels were built in 2008, 2010 and 2011 at Japanese and Chinese shipyards.

Upon their delivery in the first quarter of 2015, they will be deployed to the Teekay-managed Taurus LR2 Pool and Aframax RSA.

Kevin Mackay, chief executive of Teekay Tankers, said: “We are pleased to announce this acquisition of five, high quality, modern secondhand tankers at an attractive price, which, when combined with the increase in our in-chartered fleet over the past six months, is consistent with our stated strategy of increasing our exposure to an improving spot tanker market.”

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