Charter Contracts News

Australia’s BHP Group has signed contracts with COSCO Shipping Bulk, a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping, for the charter of two ammonia dual-fueled Newcastlemax bulk carriers.The new vessels to be built under the arrangement will be two of only a handful of vessels in the world capable of using ammonia as a marine fuel.The two vessels, expected to be delivered from 2028, will primarily transport iron ore from Western Australia to Northeast Asia.When run on lower or low to zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions ammonia…

d’Amico International Shipping S.A., an international marine transportation company operating in the product tanker market, announced that its operating subsidiary, d’Amico Tankers D.A.C. (Ireland), has recently signed new 12-month time charter agreements for two of its Eco-MR2 vessels and one of itsEco-LR1 ships, all with reputable counterparties and at very profitable daily hire rates.

MOL Energia, a subsidiary of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), has signed long-term charter contracts with SCG Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Siam Cement Group (SCG), for two very large ethane carriers (VLECs), to be built in South Korea.The charter for two more VLECs comes in addition to three vessels already contracted by SCG Chemicals in January 2025.Of the approximately 90 dedicated liquefied ethane carriers currently in service or on order worldwide, this deal will…

Kongsberg Maritime has signed a contract with Compagnie Maritime Monegasque (CMM) to deliver advanced ship design and technology for six hybrid platform supply vessels (PSVs), with oil spill recovery capacity, which will support Petrobras’ offshore operations.CMM was ranked first in Petrobras’ tender for six state-of-the-art, hybrid large multipurpose 5,000 DWT PSVs with oil spill recovery capacity, positing the company to secure a firm 12-year charter contracts with Petrobras…

A.P. Moller - Maersk has signed agreements with three yards for a total of 20 container vessels equipped with dual-fuel LNG engines.Combined, the vessels have a capacity of 300,000 TEU.All 20 ships will be equipped with liquified gas dual-fuel propulsion systems and vary in size from 9,000 to 17,000 TEU. Two 9,000 TEU and six 17,000 TEU vessels have been ordered from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, six 15,000 TEU vessels have been ordered from Hanwha Ocean, South Korea, and six 15,000 TEU vessels have been ordered from New Times Shipbuilding…

BIMCO has released its Container Shipping Market Overview & Outlook September 2024 with Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, highlighting that the disruption caused by ships being rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope remains the key ship demand driver.As a result, ship demand is forecast to grow three times faster than cargo volumes in 2024. Without it, ship supply would have grown faster than ship demand but instead BIMCO expects that the supply/demand balance will on average be tighter during 2024 than during 2023.“During the second half of 2024…

A.P. Moller - Maersk (Maersk) is in the process of signing newbuilding orders and time-charter contracts for LNG dual-fuel container ships.The new orders for 50-60 vessels will match its planned renewal pace of around 160,000 TEU per year.The new orders are a continuation of its fleet renewal program initiated in 2021 which has seen orders placed for 25 methanol dual-fuel vessels, five in service and 20 on order providing around 350,000 TEU of dual-fuel capacity.The exact split…

MPC Container Ships (MPCC) has acquired two 3,500 TEU vessels and secured a charter agreement package for a total of 10 vessels, including the new acquisitions.The acquisition consists of two 3,500 TEU vessels at a total price of $47.25 million. The vessels are expected to be handed over from their current owner in the third quarter of 2024 and will be delivered into pre-agreed firm 36-month time charter contracts with a top-tier liner company.These vessels are anticipated to generate aggregate revenues of approximately $55 million over the charter period…

The charter owners’ container fleet has grown at an average annual rate of 3.2% for the past 12 years and currently stands at 11.7m TEU. The operator owners’ fleet has however grown faster, so the charter owners’ fleet now makes up only 40% of total container fleet capacity, down from 50% in 2012,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.The charter owners’ share of the container fleet has fallen every year during the past 12 years but a third of the 10 percentage point fall in share occurred during the past three years.

QatarEnergy CEO Saad Al Kaabi announced on Sunday that the company has finalised a number of charter contracts with several Asian ship owners to bolster its shipping fleet by 19 LNG vessels ahead of a massive expansion in LNG output.In a ceremony at its Doha headquarters state-owned QatarEnergy signed contracts to charter six vessels from CMES LNG Carrier Investment, six vessels from Shandong Marine Energy and three vessels from MISC Berhad. Those 15 vessels will be built at South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries…

Rising oil tanker chartering rates due to global shipping disruption are forcing oil shippers to take on longer-term shipping charters, executives said this week at an energy conference in Houston.The global oil tanker fleet must now travel further to get crude to refineries and fuel to consumers. European sanctions have forced Russian exporters to send oil to Asia that would have otherwise gone to Europe. Attacks on vessels in the Red Sea have forced some shippers to sail around…

MPC Container Ships (MPCC) on Monday announced plans to retrofit several of its ships and build one new vessel as part of its ongoing fleet renewal and decarbonization strategy.The Norwegian shipowner said it has entered into joint retrofit agreements with various charter customers, under which both the charterer and MPCC will share the costs of retrofit investments followed by an extension of the vessels time-charter contracts. MPCC also said it has partnered with Denmark-based Unifeeder in a joint investment for the construction of a 1,250 TEU dual-fuel methanol newbuilding.

Offshore LNG infrastructure company Energos Infrastructure has completed the acquisition of two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) from the affiliates of Greek Dynagas.The two 174,000 m3 closed-loop FSRUs, built in 2021, will be renamed Energos Force and Energos Power, said Energos Infrastructure, a joint venture majority-controlled by Apollo and minority shareholder New Fortress Energy.Earlier in 2023, the FSRUs commenced long-term charter contracts with the German…

Shipping companies remain in the dark over a new international navy coalition being assembled by the United States to combat attacks in the Red Sea, with many vessels continuing to avoid the area or cancelling contracts, sources said on Wednesday.The sources, who include shipping and maritime security officials, say few practical details are known about the initiative launched on Tuesday by Washington or whether it will directly engage in the event of further armed attacks at sea.Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have since Nov.

Integrated Wind Solutions (IWS) announced its IWS Fleet subsidiary has taken delivery of the new commissioning service operations vessel (CSOV) IWS Skywalker from shipbuilder China Merchants Industry Holdings Co., Ltd. (CMI).After transit to Europe, the vessel will commence the first out of three charter contracts at the world's largest offshore wind farm—Dogger Bank, in the U.S.—in the first quarter of 2024.The purpose-built IWS Skywalker is the first of a series of six identical sister vessels, with the remaining five vessels scheduled for delivery in 2024 and 2025.

"So far this year, container volumes have fallen nearly 2% year-on-year while average freight rates have declined, reaching 2019 levels in September. Since then, they have continued to fall. However, the cost to charter a ship remains 25% higher than in 2019,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.Liner operators continue to struggle with a worsening supply/demand balance, affecting freight rates. On average, the fleet has year-to-date grown 5% and 19% compared with 2022 and 2019 respectively.

The U.S. offshore wind market presents a $1 billion long-term opportunity to builders of crew transfer vessels (CTV) and service operation vessels (SOV) that will support both wind farm construction and long-term operations and maintenance. Unlike many of the construction vessels to be deployed on U.S. wind projects, CTVs and SOVs must be Jones Act compliant, meaning they will be built, owned and operated by U.S. companies and personnel.However, although seen as somewhat commoditized vessels…

SAL Heavy Lift said Friday it had chartered two modern semi-submersible deck carriers, the “Zhong Ren 121” and “Zhong Ren 122” on a long-term basis together with its partner Shanghai Salvage (China). "Both ships will be delivered in Shanghai between December 2023 and February 2024 and marketed through the Jumbo-SAL Alliance," Sal Heavy Lift said.“We don’t use the term ‘milestone’ lightly – but, in this case, it’s more than appropriate. This project is extremely important to us as a group, both commercially and strategically,” says Dr Martin Harren, CEO of SAL Heavy Lift and the Harren Group.

“Despite the collapse in freight rates, shipowners still have an appetite for new container ship orders and the order book has continued to grow. The record high order book of 7.54 million TEU will result in significant changes to the container fleet in the coming years,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.During the last 10 quarters, 8.61 million TEU has been contracted, matching the level contracted during the preceding 30 quarters. The order book has now increased for 10straight quarters…

Anchor handling specialist Viking Supply Ships will take two Ocean Yield-owned AHTS vessels, Far Senator and Normand Statesman, on bareboat charters for a period of five years. The vessels have since October 2020 been on a charter with Normand Chartering, a subsidiary of the Norwegian offshore vessel firm Solstad Offshore ASA. Solstad said it would redeliver the vessels to Ocean Yield at the end of their current commitments. Viking Supply Ships said in a separate statement that it would…

Oslo-listed car carrier operator Gram Car Carriers has secured three-year time charter contracts for the distribution vessels "City of Oslo" and "Viking Odessa with a "leading European operator." Each vessel has the capacity to carry up to 2,000 cars.The dayrate is USD 27,750 per day for each vessel, and the contract adds approximately $61 million of future revenue to the contract backlog. The new contracts will start during the second quarter of 2023.Georg A. Whist, the CEO of GCC, commented: "We continue to sign long-term contracts reflecting favorable car shipping market fundamentals and are now pleased to see the strong demand and…

Dry bulk shipowner Golden Ocean Group on Monday announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire six 208,000 deadweight tons (dwt) Newcastlemax vessels for a total consideration of $291 million. The newly-acquired vessels—each equipped with exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers—will be chartered back to their former owner, an unrelated third party, for approximately 36 months at an average daily time charter equivalent rate of approximately $21,000 net.Following the acquisition, Golden Ocean will be the world's largest publicly-listed dry bulk company in terms of dwt."This acquisition cements our position as the largest owner of modern Capesize vessels.

Dry bulk shipowner Diana Shipping on Tuesday announced new charter contracts for two of its vessels, the Polymnia and Los Angeles.Diana said it has extended the time charter contract with CLdN Cobelfret SA for the Polymnia, a  98,704 dwt Post-Panamax dry bulk vessel built in 2012.The gross charter rate is $10,000 per day for the first 30 days of the charter period and $15,000 per day for the balance period of the time charter, in each case minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period until minimum April 1, 2024 up to maximum May 31, 2024. The new charter period commenced on January 14, 2023.The company also announced that it has entered into a time charter contract with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha for the Los Angeles…