SFL announced today that it has entered into an agreement with a major European-based automobile manufacturer to charter two newbuild dual-fuel 7,000 CEU car carriers for a 10-year period from delivery in 2023. The contract is on a time-charter basis, and until the new vessels are delivered they will charter our two existing car carriers SFL Composer and SFL Conductor. Concurrently, SFL has agreed to construct the two newbuild vessels at a leading shipyard in China, subject to final documentation.

The transaction is estimated to add more than $200 million in fixed-rate charter backlog, and we are adding state-of-the-art vessels designed to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) to our fleet. In addition, we intend to cooperate with our customer to use eco-friendly bio-fuel for the propulsion of the two existing vessels.

Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management, said in a comment: «We are extremely honoured to be selected by an industry leading automobile manufacturer with clear environmental ambitions. This transaction shows our commitment to invest in assets with lower carbon footprint and also how we can improve performance of existing vessels through the use of alternative fuels, in line with our ESG strategy.

Over the last 10 years, SFL’s fleet has transitioned from predominately oil production and transportation assets, to mainly consisting of containerships and dry bulk vessels today. Including this new transaction, our fixed-rate charter backlog from shipping assets will be more than $2.4 billion.»