Norway´s Gram Car Carriers, a large tonnage provider within the pure car truck carriers segment, has signed a five-year time charter deal for the 7,000 ceu panamax vessel Viking Queen.
The shipowner didn’t disclose the name of the operator who will charter the vessel but said that it is a European operator.
The Oslo-based firm said in a statement that with this latest deal, all four of its Panamax class car carriers have been fixed on long-term contracts with an average duration of almost five years.
The new contract is expected to commence in late January 2024, at an average time charter of $62,300 per day. The deal is estimated that will add approximately $114m of future revenue to the contract backlog.
The charter is structured with a tapered dayrate profile, starting at $80,000 per day for year one, before declining stepwise to $40,000 per day for year five, Gram Car Carriers said.
Georg A. Whist, the chief executive of GCC, commented: “All our four Panamax vessels have now been fixed on long durations, which is reflected in a record revenue backlog and long-term revenue visibility. A significant share of our 2024 and 2025 revenue days have been secured at attractive dayrates, providing a strong foundation for growth in earnings and dividends in line with our strategy.”
With this new contract for Viking Queen, the shipowner has 5% and 12% revenue days open for the years 2024 and 2025, respectively.
