Ocean Yield buys two Suezmaxes with sustainability-linked lease

Norwegian shipowner Ocean Yield AS has agreed to acquire two 2022-built Suezmax tankers that will be chartered out under a sustainability-linked lease agreement.

As informed, both vessels were built at Daehan Shipbuilding in South Korea. They are expected to be delivered to their new owner in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The tankers in question are the 157,300 dwt Cypress and the 158,300 dwt Cedar, data provided by VesselsValue shows. Both Suezmaxes are fitted with scrubbers and ballast water treatment systems (BWTS).

Upon delivery, the ships will commence 14-year bareboat charters to guaranteed subsidiaries of Belgian tanker major Euronav NV.

“The bareboat charter rates will have a variable element linked to the respective vessel’s actual carbon emissions, incentivizing the charterer to keep emissions low,” Ocean Yield said in a statement.

There are purchase obligations at the end of the charter periods. The transaction will add approximately $250 million to the company’s EBITDA backlog.

Established in 2012, Ocean Yield focuses on investments in vessels on long-term charters. In late 2021, the company changed its owner when Octopus Bidco AS, a company indirectly wholly owned by funds advised by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. and its affiliates (KKR), acquired all shares in Ocean Yield.