SFL Corporation Ltd. has agreed to charter out six 14,000 TEU container vessels to Hapag-Lloyd for five years, following the expiry of the ships’ existing charters to another container line in 2023-2024.
The vessels will then have charter coverage until 2028-2029 at firm rates, reflecting the current strong container market, according to SFL Corporation, which noted that new time charter contracts will add approximately US$540 million to the company’s fixed-rate charter backlog, increasing the backlog to US$3.8 billion.
“This transaction highlights the value and importance of our strong operational platform and our time charter strategy, enabling us to build strong customer relationships with industry-leading counterparties,” commented Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management AS, who added, “We have now added more than US$1 billion to our charter backlog during the first quarter of 2022 which gives us strong earnings visibility and long term distribution capacity going forward.”
