Italian owner d'Amico International Shipping is to adopt a defensive strategy in the tanker market after it closed 2016 with a loss of US$12.8m.

The company said that its 2016 results were negatively impacted by a US$6.6m impairement booked on three vessels which are currently under advanced sale negotiations.

Marco Fiori, CEO of d'Amico International Shipping, pointed to further sale and leaseback deals for the vessels, commenting, "We recently announced the disposal of two of our oldest ships and we are currently working on other similar deals. In most cases, we will charter back for a few years the vessels we intend to sell, positioning ourselves to keep our tonnage capacity in an expected strengthening market whilst increasing at the same time our liquidity and financial flexibility."