Another two of Himalaya Shipping’s dual-fuel newcastlemax bulk carriers have been fixed out on lengthy charters.
The fixtures mean that long-term employment has been secured for 11 of the Oslo-listed shipowner’s fleet of 12 newcastlemaxes, of which six are still to be delivered.
Himalaya on Monday said it has fixed two vessels on 24-month, index-linked charters with “a major commodity trading company”, which will commence when the ships are delivered from China’s New Times Shipbuilding in the first half of 2024. The contracts include rights to convert to fixed-rate employment.
The vessels appear to be the 210,000-dwt Mount Bandeira and Mount Hua, which are due to be delivered in January.
“We are pleased that our vessels are achieving market-high premiums. Our simple structure, with index-linked charters earning a significant premium, low G&A [general and administrative] cost and financing with seven-year fixed bareboat rates puts us in a good position to deliver solid returns to our shareholders,” said Herman Billung, CEO of Himalaya Shipping.
All but one of the 11 vessels fixed out on long-term employment are on index-linked contracts. TradeWinds understands charterers include Koch Industries and Mercuria.
Himalaya, which has been backed by shipowner Tor Olav Troim, said its live fleet on index-linked contracts will earn a premium of 42% to the Baltic Capesize Index on average.
But the low capesize market has meant that Himalaya has been burning cash in recent months.
Himalaya’s fleet-wide average time charter equivalent figure for August was $20,800 per day, down from $22,300 in July. This is below Fearnley Securities’ estimated breakeven of $24,000 per day for the fleet.
Six more Himalaya vessels will hit the water by the end of July next year, with the newbuilding programme running slightly ahead of schedule.
The whole fleet will be fitted with scrubbers and be able to be fuelled with LNG, low sulphur fuel oil or high sulphur fuel oil.
