John Fredriksen’s SFL Corporation has bagged a contract extension for one of its boxships and sealed a $65m deal to upgrade further six ships ahead of their upcoming charters.
Danish liner Maersk has declared an option to keep the 2015-built 9,500 teu scrubber-fitted Maersk Sarat until mid-2025. SFL said the deal should add about $13m to its charter backlog, with the new option rate being higher than the current charter rate. The charter will also continue to include a profit sharing of any economic benefit derived from operating the vessel’s scrubber.
The New York-listed company has 36 boxships that generated approximately $91.2m in gross charter hire in the third quarter as part of its diversified fleet of 73 wholly or partly owned vessels and newbuildings.
In addition to the charter extension, SFL has, together with German carrier Hapag-Lloyd, agreed to invest about $65m in efficiency upgrades on six 14,000 teu vessels in connection with their approaching five-year fixtures. SFL said its investment is limited to project management and certain upgrade costs estimated at $3m in total.
The first of the vessels, the Thalassa Patris, is currently being upgraded and is expected to start the new charter to Hapag-Lloyd later this month, renamed as the Savannah Express.
