Evalend Shipping has been linked to $77.7m in period deals that lock up two VLCCs with a US charterer.
The Greek shipowner has locked in the 299,700-dwt Babylon and 288,800-dwt Silverstone (both built 2000) for three years in deals with Koch Supply & Trading, according to data from Seasure Shipbroking and sister company VesselsValue.
Koch is reported to have signed up to pay $35,500 per day for the crude tankers.
VesselsValue reported that the charterer has an option to extend the deal for up to two years at a rate of $38,500 per day for the first 12 months and $40,500 per day after that.
Koch and Evalend did not immediately respond to TradeWinds' request for comment.
Rates for three-year period deals continue to hold strong despite a lacklustre spot market that has yet to deliver as big a winter spike as VLCC owners had hoped for.
The charter rate is somewhat higher than for the last reported three-year charters for scrubber-fitted VLCCs, which last month saw Trafigura reportedly paying $34,000 per day for DHT Holdings' 300,000-dwt DHT Harrier (built 2016).
It was also reported to have paid $29,000 per day for three years for Tsakos Energy Navigation's 299,000-dwt Ulysses (built 2016) and Hercules I (built 2017).
US tanker broker Charles R Weber estimated that a three-year time charter of a VLCC is worth $29,000 per day, which was unchanged from the week before.
Meanwhile, average VLCC earnings rose to just $9,273 per day on Friday, up from $8,585 per day two weeks earlier.
"While the historically stronger fourth quarter is on pace to be the highest-earning quarter of the year in 2021, it will likely be the fourth-lowest quarter over the last decade and just ahead of the first three quarters of this year," the Connecticut shipbroker said in its weekly report.
The charters to Koch mean Athens-based Evalend has all of its five VLCCs locked into time charters: two are with Trafigura and another with Gunvor's Clearlake Shipping.
This story has been amended since publication to reflect that Koch Supply & Trading chartered the Silverstone and Babylon.
