Chinese bulker operator Jinhui Shipping and Transportation has chartered in a vessel under a long-term deal for the second time in less than a week.
The Oslo- and Hong Kong-listed company has contracted a 2017-built newcastlemax True Neptune for at least 33 months from the Singapore-based Olam Maritime Freight. The Chinese firm does have an option to extend the charter for three more months.
The deal for the 207,672 dwt vessel is worth around $26.64m or $31,500 per day. The Liberia-flagged ship will be delivered to Jinhui between January 1, 2025, and March 31, 2025.
The company explained its rationale behind the move by pointing out that this charter would allow Jinhui to increase its carrying capacity with a modern ship with by using means other than owning a vessel.
Jinhui added that locking in a long-term contract with minimal hire has the benefit of bypassing inflationary pressure on borrowing costs and other cost variations that the company has to bear by outright acquiring a vessel.
The True Neptune will be the first newcastlemax in the company’s fleet and will raise the number of chartered in vessels to four.
This latest charter comes only a few days after it inked a $10m, 22-month deal for the hire of the 2016-built ultramax named Pacific Lilly from the Singapore arm of China’s Zhejiang Shipping. In December, the company charted in the 2021-built kamsarmax Ever Shining. The first chartered in vessel was the Taho Circular, hired in 2022.
