John Fredriksen’s Flex LNG has taken delivery of the first of five speculatively-ordered newbuildings for the year.
The New York-listed company said the 174,000-cbm Flex Aurora was delivered on Wednesday by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. The ship was originally earmarked for handover in the second quarter.
Flex has previously detailed that the ship is fixed from delivery on a variable time charter contract that gives the earliest redelivery date on the ship as the second quarter of 2021.
Brokers said the X-DF vessel is one of two Flex LNG newbuildings recently fixed to Spanish charterer Naturgy. The second is thought to be the sistership, and next up for delivery, Flex Amber.
The ships are reported committed at $58,000 per day for a firm period of six months with options to extend the hire.
Flex has been unusually coy on the details of its new fixtures.
The company said this month that it has secured business ex-yard for the Flex Aurora, Flex Amber and the 173,400-cbm newbuilding Flex Resolute, which is under construction at DSME.
Flex said the ships are fixed on “variable time-charters” with the earliest redelivery being from the second quarter of 2021 onwards. But the company said it does not give details of short period charters, despite having detailed these for some of its first vessels.
This leaves one of Flex’s five speculatively-ordered LNG newbuildings scheduled for delivery this year — the 173,400-cbm Flex Freedom — as open and apparently without firm employment.
Fredriksen’s LNG company is also due to take delivery of the 173,400-cbm newbuilding Flex Artemis but this vessel is fixed to trader Gunvor’s Clearlake Shipping for up to 10 years from its mid-August delivery.
Flex, which operates a fleet of 13 LNG carriers, has a further two unfixed newbuildings due for handover in 2021.
This week, Clarksons Research said in a report that around one third of all LNG newbuildings on the current orderbook remain uncommitted.
