Hapag-Lloyd hires six 14,000 TEU boxships from SFL

Bermuda-based ship owning and chartering company SFL Corporation has agreed to charter out six 14,000 TEU container vessels to German container shipping major Hapag-Lloyd AG.

As informed, Hapag-Lloyd will hire the ships for a fixed period of five years, following the expiry of the vessels’ existing charters to another container line in 2023-2024. The move comes several days after the German company decided to acquire the container liner business of compatriot carrier Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL).

The six 14,000 TEU boxships in the SFL’s fleet are Thalassa Elpida, Thalassa Patris, Thalassa Axia, Thalassa Doxa, Thalassa Tyhi and Thalassa Mana, data on the company’s website shows.

The vessels will have charter coverage until 2028-2029 at firm rates, reflecting the current strong container market, according to SFL.

The new time charter contracts will add approximately $540 million to SFL’s fixed-rate charter backlog, increasing the backlog to $3.8 billion.

“We are excited to build a long term relationship with Hapag-Lloyd, who is the world’s fifth largest container line,” Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management AS, commented.

“We have now added more than $1 billion to our charter backlog during the first quarter of 2022 which gives us strong earnings visibility and long term distribution capacity going forward.”

Last year, SFL bought two eco-design vessels and chartered them to a subsidiary of the Swiss shipping major Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

Over the past few years, the company has been disposing of less-efficient vessels and ordering/buying green ships in an effort to improve its carbon footprint.

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