A few weeks after acquiring modern suezmaxes and container ships, SFL Corp revealed it is buying car carriers too.
The John Fredriksen-backed company said it has agreed to acquire a pure car/truck carrier.
It failed to reveal any information about the ship’s name, price or age, other than to say it comes equipped with a scrubber and the deal to buy it is “in combination with a long-term time charter to a leading car carrier operator until 2028”.
Once SFL takes delivery of the vessel at some point in the fourth quarter, it will start accruing income that is ultimately expected to boost its fixed-rate charter backlog by about $65m.
That amount, however, might increase, considering that the charter includes a profit-share element related to fuel savings from the PCTC’s scrubber.
A profit-share element and a long-term time charter of at least seven years were also part of SFL’s previous acquisition announced in September, in which it agreed to buy a pair of eco-design feeder container ships in a resale deal.
The company has since identified the soon-to-be-delivered newbuildings as the 2,500-teu A Bandai (renamed Maersk Phuket, built 2022) and sistership Hull No CHB078, which will trade as Maersk Pelepas.
SFL has already taken delivery of the four suezmaxes it agreed to buy from Turkey’s Ciner in August, in a $222.5m deal secured by six-year charters with Koch Industries.
The vessels are the 158,100-dwt sisterships Zeynep (renamed SFL Albany) and Ayse C (renamed SFL Fraser, both built 2020), as well as the 159,500-dwt sisterships Istanbul (renamed SFL Ottawa) and Atina (renamed SFL Thelon, both built 2015).
“All recently announced transactions are expected to have full revenue effect from the first quarter 2023,” SFL said on Thursday.
The sale-and-leaseback specialist, an owner of nearly 80 container ships, tankers, car carriers, bulkers and offshore drilling rigs, is an avowed fan of diversified fleets.
Chief executive Ole Hjertaker argued earlier this year that shipowners with fleets focused on just one market do not have a bright future.
SFL Corp’s website features a fleet of 77 ships — 36 container ships, 15 bulkers, nine suezmaxes, six product tankers, six PCTCs, two chemical tankers, one VLCC, one jack-up drill rig and one semi-submersible vessel.
That list excludes the new car carrier.
