$4.55 per share. That is the new quarterly dividend at International Seaways (NYSE: INSW). It is more than double last quarter’s payout. It is the largest quarterly dividend in the company’s history. And it tells you almost everything you need to know about where tanker cash is going in 2026.
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The check arrives in June. If you own Seaways, mark the date.
That number did not come from nowhere. Seaways earned $286 million in net income for the first quarter of 2026, or $5.75 per diluted share. Adjusted net income was $194 million, or $3.90. Q1 was the strongest result the company has posted since the fourth quarter of 2022, and it ran more than five times what they earned in the same quarter last year.
The chief executive described it plainly. “We more than doubled our dividend this quarter to $4.55 per share by increasing our payout ratio to 85% of adjusted earnings and including an additional discretionary component,” Lois Zabrocky said in this morning’s release. Eighty-five percent is the new floor. The discretionary component sat on top of that floor for this quarter because the cash was there.
When the chief financial officer of a tanker company tells you cash generation is the strongest in company history, you stop scrolling.
The chief financial officer Jeff Pribor said in the release that “underlying cash generation was the strongest in the Company’s history.” When the finance chief of a tanker company puts those words in a quarterly release, retail investors should pay attention.
So how did Seaways get there?
What the result actually said
Two engines drove the quarter. The first was the spot rate. Seaways’ crude tankers earned an average of more than $41,000 per day on the spot market, which is what each ship carries home each day after fuel and port costs. The product tanker side, the midsize fuel tankers and long-range tankers, earned strong rates of their own. Across the fleet, average daily earnings ran about $30,000 higher than the first quarter of 2025.
The second engine was the fleet sale program. Seaways sold seven older vessels in the quarter for $216 million in net proceeds and recognized $88 million in gains. The vessels averaged 17 years old, which is past the age where most tanker investors want a ship sitting in their fleet. Selling them at a profit and using the cash to fund both the dividend and new vessel deliveries is the kind of capital discipline that gets noticed.
The combination shows up in the numbers. Shipping revenues totaled $325 million, up from $183 million a year ago. Time charter equivalent revenue, which is what each ship earns per day after fuel and port costs (TCE), was $317 million versus $178 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) hit $244 million, almost three times last year’s $91 million. Seaways is throwing off cash at a different rate than it did a year ago.
Why the dividend matters more than the earnings number
A lot of tanker companies posted strong first-quarter numbers. The cycle is good. Crude rates are firm, product rates are steady, and cash is loud across the sector. So why does the Seaways number stand out?
Because of how they paid it.
Most tanker dividends come with conditions. A formula based on quarterly earnings, a cap on what flows through, a board vote that may or may not lean shareholder-friendly. Seaways pushed the payout floor from a lower formula to 85% of adjusted net income, then added a discretionary top-up because the quarter was strong enough to support it. Eighty-five percent is the part that matters most for next quarter, and the quarter after that. A payout ratio that high is unusual for a company that also wants to fund newbuilding deliveries and keep a liquidity cushion.
Eighty-five percent of adjusted net income is the new floor. The floor is what changes the math.
Seaways can do this because the balance sheet is built for it. Total liquidity at the end of the quarter was $918 million. That breaks into $377 million of cash and $541 million of undrawn credit. Net loan-to-value, which compares net debt to fleet value, sits below 7%. A tanker company with single-digit leverage and a billion dollars of liquidity does not need to hoard cash through a dividend cycle. It can pay shareholders aggressively and still have room to deliver new vessels.
What changes for the rest of the watchlist
Seaways is one of eight tanker companies on the txzen.com watchlist. Frontline, DHT Holdings, Scorpio Tankers, Teekay Tankers, Hafnia, CMB Tech, and Ardmore Shipping fill the other seven. If you hold any of these names, the Seaways number is your read-through. The crude tanker market generated more than $41,000 per day in the first quarter, which is good news for Frontline, DHT, and Teekay Tankers. The product tanker side held up, which matters for Scorpio Tankers, Hafnia, and Ardmore Shipping.
The other thing Seaways did with this earnings report is set the bar on capital return. If you own a tanker stock and it earns a record quarter and pays out less than 85% of adjusted earnings, you should ask why. The market just got a new floor.
So what does this mean if you already own Seaways?
The check is coming in June. The market is pricing the company differently than it was three months ago. Total shareholder return year to date is more than 74% including the March dividend, which means even before today’s news the stock was being recognized for cash discipline. If the spot rate cycle holds through the second quarter, which CEO commentary on the Strait of Hormuz suggests it might, the next dividend can run on the same 85% floor. A formula that pays a fixed percentage of a growing earnings base compounds.
If you do not own Seaways and you are looking at the tanker sector, the Q1 result is the case study. A company with a clean balance sheet, a fleet renewal program that funds itself by selling old ships at a gain, and a high payout floor is the shape investors want when the cycle is on. Look across the watchlist for the same shape.
What to watch next
Three things matter from here.
First, the second-quarter spot rate. The chief executive described the start of the second quarter as “notably strong.” If that holds through June, the next adjusted net income number runs on similar economics, and the 85% payout floor produces another large dividend.
Second, the remaining long-range fuel tanker deliveries. Seaways took delivery of two new ships in the first quarter and early second quarter, with two more arriving in the third quarter. Each new ship adds revenue capacity right as the company sheds older vessels. Watch the third-quarter result for the first full picture of the renewed fleet.
Third, the discretionary component. Eighty-five percent is the contract. The discretionary top-up is the bonus. Track whether management adds another discretionary piece in the second quarter or pulls back. That tells you how confident they are about the cycle staying on.
The check is coming in June. The new floor is 85%. Cash generation is the strongest in company history. That is what one number told you about where tanker cash is going in 2026.