German giant Volkswagen Group is continuing to back liquefied natural gas as fuel and has chartered two additional LNG-powered car carriers as it looks to decarbonize its operations.
The carmaker already uses two LNG-powered car carriers it chartered from Siem on the trans-Atlantic route, so-called America Round Tour, from Germany’s Emden to Mexico.
Volkswagen will add two more LNG-powered vessels from 2023 as part of a 10-year charter deal the company has signed with SFL Corporation.
To remind, the shipping company controlled by billionaire John Fredriksen, said on April 28 it would charter two newbuild LNG-powered car carriers to a major European-based automobile manufacturer without revealing further information.
SFL has now confirmed Volkswagen as the charterer of the 7,000 CEU car carriers which will be built by China’s Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) in Nansha.
Prior to the delivery of the newbuilds, Volkswagen will charter our two existing car carriers, namely SFL Composer and SFL Conductor. The duo plan to cooperate to use bio-fuel for the propulsion of the two vessels.
The transaction would add more than $200 million to SFL’s fixed-rate charter backlog, SFL previously said.