Privately-owned tonnage provider Norwegian Car Carriers (NOCC) has locked in two vessels on term time charters with Eukor and Zim.

That leaves the company's reduced fleet fully employed for a long time to come, with management devoting its time to cautiously exploring possible newbuilding deals backed by long-term employment.

The charters come after a year in which NOCC reduced its fleet from seven vessels to four, and leaves the company with no open tonnage for a long time to come in a market that chief executive Olav Sollie expects to...