HAMILTON: Flex LNG Ltd. through one of its subsidiaries has entered into a long-term time charter with Clearlake Shipping Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Gunvor Group Ltd.

The period under the time charter is up to ten years where the first five years are firm. The vessel to be employed under this time charter will be the hull 2479 at DSME.

Commencement of the time charter will be in connection with the delivery of the ship ex yard which is scheduled for August 2020. The time charter will have elements of variable rate of hire across the charter period.

Hull 2479 is a large state-of-the-art 173,400 cbm LNG carrier fitted with a modern high pressure two-stroke slow-speed propulsion system (ME-GI). The vessel is also equipped with a Full Reliquifaction System (FRS) enabling a very high level of operational flexibility given the low boil-off rate of 0.035% per day. The vessel will be named as Flex Artemis.

Kalpesh Patel, Co-Head of LNG at Gunvor, commented: “Gunvor is continuously searching for ways to meet our customer’s requirements in a safe and efficient manner. Working with a first class Owner like Flex LNG helps us achieve that goal. This charter builds on our already deep and successful relationship and we look forward to taking delivery of one of the most technologically advanced LNG vessels in the world to serve our long term portfolio.”

Øystein M. Kalleklev, Chief Executive Officer of Flex LNG Management AS, commented: “We are very pleased to enter into this long-term charter with a top-tier customer like Gunvor which has been the most active LNGC spot trader in the burgeoning LNG trade. We are confident that our vessel will be very suitable for their trade given the very high technical specification of this vessel. This charter is also in line with our strategy of delivering incremental higher level of backlog as we are growing our fleet of vessels on the water.”