We reported adjusted net income of $110 million or $3.27 per share in the first quarter, up from an adjusted net income of $83 million or $2.47 per share in the fourth quarter of 2019 and $15 million or $0.44 per share in the first quarter of 2019.
Teekay Tankers' first quarter earnings per share was the highest in more than 10 years, resulting in an industry-leading 20% earnings per share yield for the quarter based on our closing share price yesterday at an annualized earnings per share yield of 80%, clearly demonstrating the earnings power of our business.
We have continued to strengthen our balance sheet with strong free cash flow from operations of $140 million and the completion of three vessel sales totaling $60 million during the first quarter.
This allowed Teekay Tankers to reduce its net debt by $200 million or over 20% and increased our liquidity position to $368 million during the quarter.
Our net debt-to-total capitalization declined to 40% at the end of March compared to 48% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019 and it remains our intention to continue reducing this leverage and increasing our long-term financial flexibility and resilience.
Subsequent to the first quarter, we are continuing to generate significant free cash flow and also closed the $27 million sale of the non-US portion of our ship-to-ship transfer business.
Approximately $14 million of cash payment was received on closing with the balance due in August.
Crude tanker spot rates were the highest in more than 10 years during the first quarter and second quarter rates are also expected to be very positive based on firm quarter-to-date bookings.
We were well prepared to manage any potential spares shortages as the team identified critical items and made advance purchases early in the outbreak where given our experiences from 2003 SARS epidemic, we anticipated challenges related toward manufacturing and logistics.
By April, Saudi Arabia pushed its oil production to a record high of just under 12 million barrels per day, creating significant additional tanker demand.
According to the IEA, global oil demand declined by around 25 million barrels per day year-on-year in April as demand for transportation fuel collapsed.
As shown by the chart on the slide, around 100 crude tankers are currently being used for floating storage, which we define as being in storage for at least 30 days with over 100 additional ships sitting in ports on demurrage for periods of between seven days to 30 days.
All told, around 10% of the crude tanker fleet is currently being used for some form of floating storage, thereby reducing the number of ships available for transporting cargo.
As a result, mid-size tanker spot rates during the first quarter were the highest in over 10 years.
Based on approximately 69% and 64% of spot revenue days booked, Teekay Tankers' second quarter-to-date Suezmax and Aframax bookings have averaged approximately $52,100 and $33,200 per day, respectively.
For our LR2 segment with approximately 58% spot revenue days booked, second quarter-to-date bookings have averaged approximately $34,300 per day.
Over the past eight months, Teekay Tankers has taken advantage of strong spot tanker market spikes and opportunistically secured fixed time charter coverage for 10 Suezmaxes and three Aframax size vessels at attractive rates.
The current tanker order book, when measured as a proportion of the existing fleet, is the lowest we have seen it in 23 years, at just under 8%.
This is significantly lower than the almost 50% of the fleet size in 2008 and 20% seen in 2015, proportions which meaningfully weighed on the ability of the tanker market to recover the demand return.
Looking at the mid-size tanker fleet specifically, around 370 vessels are aged between 15 years and 20 years old compared to our current order book of just 140 ships.
Since the end of Q3 2019, utilizing very strong cash flows from operations and proceeds from asset sales, we have transformed our balance sheet, reducing net debt by approximately $270 million or 27% and increasing our liquidity position by almost four times to $368 million.
In fact, in Q1 alone, we reduced our debt by approximately $200 million or over 20% and more than doubled our liquidity position.
I'm pleased to report that the strong cash flows achieved in April, further reduced our net debt by approximately $60 million and increased our liquidity position to $420 million.
In addition, the 13 fixed rate contracts that Kevin touched on earlier, have lowered our cash breakeven by over $4,000 per day for the next 12 months, further increasing our resilience to potential medium-term market weakness.
Starting with the graph on the left side of the page 10, TNK's free cash flow increased from a very high $102 million in Q4 2019 to $141 million in the first quarter of 2020 for total of over $240 million in just two quarters.
To put TNK's free cash flow during the first quarter into perspective, on an annualized basis, it equates to a free cash flow yield of approximately 100%, based on our closing share price yesterday of $16.05.
Referring to the graph on the right side, TNK continues to maintain significant operating leverage with approximately 80% of spot exposure over the next 12 months, while reducing its free cash flow breakeven by locking in time charters at significantly higher rates.
TNK is expected to generate strong free cash flow in the second quarter and generate positive free cash flow at average midsize tanker spot rates above approximately $10,500 per day.
We capitalized on the strong market with majority of our fleet trading spot while opportunistically fixing our 13 vessels on time charter at the peaks of the time charter market.

Summary:
We reported adjusted net income of $110 million or $3.27 per share in the first quarter, up from an adjusted net income of $83 million or $2.47 per share in the fourth quarter of 2019 and $15 million or $0.44 per share in the first quarter of 2019.