Norwegian shipping firm Flex LNG, the owner of 13 liquefied natural gas carriers, has secured a time charter deal for the 2019-built 173,400-cbm, Flex Constellation.
The LNG carrier owner controlled by billionaire John Fredriksen said on Wednesday that the charterer of the LNG carrier is a “large Asian LNG importer”.
According to Flex, the charter started on May 7 with a minimum period of 312 days, or until the end of first quarter of 2025.
Also, the charterer has the option to extend the charter by an additional one-year period until the end of first quarter 2026.
In January, Flex said that this LNG carrier would be available for charter later this year after a trading house decided not to utilize its extension option.
In May 2021, the shipping firm announced a three-year charter for this ME-GI LNG carrier with the trading house, said to be Trafigura, with an option for three more years.
However, the charterer decided not to utilize its extension option, and Flex LNG took redelivery of the ship at the end of first quarter this year.
Subsequently, the vessel carried out its scheduled five-year special survey in drydock in Singapore “on schedule and budget”, Flex said.
Following this drydocking the vessel has been engaged in the spot market until the start of the new time charter, the firm said.
Fourth contract
Last month, Flex clinched a time charter extension from US LNG exporter Cheniere for its 2018-built 173,400-cbm ME-GI LNG carrier, Flex Endeavour.
Prior to this, Flex secured two charter extensions from UK-based energy giant BP for the 2019-built 173,400-cbm, Flex Courageous, and the 2020-built 173,400-cbm LNG carrier, Flex Resolute.
CEO Øystein Kalleklev said this is the company’s fourth contract so far this year.
“With this new time charter, we have added 6.2 years of firm backlog so far this year and have secured 100 percent charter coverage for the remainder of the year,” Kalleklev said.
“In total, we now have 51 years of firm backlog which may increase to 70 years in the event the charterers are utilizing all of their extension options,” he said.
