Himalaya Shipping secured charter deals for two LNG-powered Newcastlemax bulk carriers it has on order at China’s New Times Shipyard.
Tor Olav Trøim’s Himalaya said in a statement on Tuesday that the charterer is a “substantial and reputable counterparty”.
The vessels will start a 22 to 26 months’ time charter, plus an option exercisable by the counterparty for further 11 to 13 months, upon delivery from New Times between January and July 2024, according to Himalaya.
Both vessels will earn an index linked rate, reflecting a significant premium to the Baltic 5TC index (BCI), it said.
The time charters also include a profit sharing of any economic benefit derived from operating the vessels’ scrubber or running on LNG, as well as certain rights to convert the time charters to fixed rates based on the prevailing forward freight agreement (FFA) curve from time to time, Himalaya said.
9 of 12 vessels
Himalaya now chartered out 9 of its 12 LNG dual-fuel Newcastlemax bulk
carriers and “we are witnessing strong interest for the 3 remaining vessels,” it said.
“The premium agreed on these charter agreement is to our knowledge the highest achieved so far, even compared to our own previous agreements,” Herman Billung, contracted CEO of Himalaya, said.
The firm recently took delivery of the fourth LNG-powered vessel in this batch of 12, Mount Blanc.
Earlier this year, Himalaya took delivery of the first vessel, Mount Norefjell, the second vessel, Mount Ita, and the third vessel, Mount Etna.