ATHENS: Fredriksen-led Ship Finance International (SFI) has agreed to purchase three 9,000-teu containership newbuildings, which have timecharters attached, from an unnamed seller.
The three vessels are currently being constructed to a fuel-efficient design at an undisclosed yard. Delivery is expected between the last quarter of this year and the first quarter 2016. The boxships have each secured a five-year timecharter with an unnamed “leading European container line”, which combined will generate around $200m in revenue for SFI. Each contract includes an option to extend by a further two years.
SFI expects the vessels to contribute aggregate annual operating profit of more than $30m on average during the five year firm period of the charter. “We are very pleased to further grow our presence in the containership segment with these state-of-the-art vessels, and at the same time expand our chartering counterparties with one of the leading container lines,” Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFI, said itoday.
