Overseas Shipholding Group is nearing full strength after posting year-over-year and sequential gains in the first quarter.

The Tampa tanker owner posted a $509,000 loss for the first three months of 2022, a significant improvement from the $15.9m loss for the same period last year and the $3.7m loss in the fourth quarter.

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Chief executive Samuel Norton said the improvement — revenue jumped to $104m from $81.3m in the first quarter of 2021 — prompted the company to take its last two ships out of layup.

“These results give us renewed confidence that the condition of our balance sheet and the opportunities inherent in an improving market environment will allow us to realise the latent potential of our long-term business strategy,” Norton said in a statement alongside results.

“Our last two vessels in layup are slated to return to service before the end of June giving us a full fleet of vessels in service for the first time in nearly two years.

“We continue to anticipate further improvement in all important financial metrics and a gradual build in available cash balances over the next several quarters as higher utilisation at stronger time charter rates is realized by substantially all of our vessels in operation.”

OSG has a total of 24 vessels in its fleet. It owns half, including five handysize product tankers and three crude tankers, and charters 12 ships in, 11 of them handysizes.

The company took one ship out of layup in January and another in February, helping to raise revenues alongside five international voyages for the US military.

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The company saw improvement across asset classes, but the most dramatic jump came in its Jones Act handysize tankers where they lost $12.3m in the first quarter of 2021 to jump back into the black in the first quarter of 2022, earning $1.46m.

In the spot market, those ships earned an average time charter equivalent rate of $57,368 per day over 411 days. OSG said their fixed earnings came in at an average of $58,228 per day over 545 days.

In early trading, OSG shares dipped $0.04 to $2.13.