New vessel assignment with Asian player enables Flex LNG to score its fourth deal in 2024

Bermuda-headquartered liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping company Flex LNG has found work with an undisclosed company in Asia for another one of its LNG carriers.

A new time charter agreement for the Flex Constellation vessel comes after the LNG carrier was redelivered from a three-year time charter deal at the end of the first quarter of 2024. Flex LNG confirms that the ship’s scheduled five-year special survey was carried out in drydock in Singapore on schedule and budget. Afterward, the LNG carrier was engaged in the spot market until the beginning of the new time charter.

The Flex Constellation vessel’s new time charter, which started on May 7 with a minimum period of 312 days, is with an unnamed company that is said to be a large Asian LNG importer. The LNG carrier will stay with this player until the end of 1Q 2025. However, the charterer can extend the assignment by another year, prolonging the vessel’s work until the end of the first quarter of 2026.

The large 173,400 cbm Flex Constellation LNG carrier, delivered from Hanwha Ocean in South Korea to Flex LNG in June 2019, is equipped with modern two-stroke propulsion (MEGI) and partial reliquification system (PRS), enabling the ship to reduce the active boil-off rate to a level of 0.075%.

Øystein Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management, commented: “We are pleased to announce our fourth contract so far this year. Earlier this year we have announced two-year contract extensions for both Flex Resolute and Flex Courageous from 2025 to 2027 as well as a 500-days extension of Flex Endeavour from 2030 to 2032.

“With this new time charter, we have added 6.2 years of firm backlog so far this year and have secured 100 per cent charter coverage for the remainder of the year. In total, we now have 51 years of firm backlog which may increase to 70 years in the event the charterers are utilizing all of their extension options.”

Flex LNG has been a busy bee so far this year. While the time charter agreement for the Flex Endeavour LNG carrier was secured in April 2024 with Cheniere, the Bermuda-based shipping player landed a contract extension for Flex Courageous in February this year, after securing an extension of the charter for Flex Resolute during the month before.