John Fredriksen’s Frontline has ordered more scrubbers from Feen Marine Scrubbers, the company it bought a 20% stake in earlier this year.
Frontline now has commitments to install 20 scrubbers, including those going onto newbuild VLCCs Front Discovery and Front Defender.
Robert Hvide Macleod, CEO of Frontline Management, said: “Backed by the ongoing commitment and support from Frontline’s largest shareholder, we have taken significant steps to modernize our fleet, decreasing the average age of our owned vessels to 4.7 years. Following the committed installations, over 40% of our owned fleet will be equipped with scrubbers. Notably, the majority of these installations will be performed prior to 2020, when new sulphur emissions compliance requirements go into effect. Further installations will be considered, and we are uniquely positioned to access scrubber capacity from Feen Marine.”
Frontline also announced that the terms of its senior unsecured revolving credit facility of up to $275m with an affiliate of Fredriksen’s Hemen Holding have been extended by 12 months through to November 2020.
