MISC Berhad (MISC) has entered into a new partnership agreement with Japanese ship owner, Nissen Kaiun, a family-owned shipping company led-by Capt. Katsuya Abe, for the sale and charter of two of its existing LNG carriers.
MISC will transfer ownership of the LNG carriers to Nissen Kaiun, and simultaneously enter into a charter agreement with Eaglestar and Synergy Marine, as the shipmanagers.
The first of the two vessels is expected to be delivered to Nissen Kaiun in the fourth quarter of 2023.
MISC´s fleet consists of more than 100 owned and in-chartered vessels comprising of LNG and ethane carriers, petroleum and product vessels, floating production systems (FPS) as well as LNG floating storage units (FSU), with a combined deadweight tonnage capacity of more than 13 million tonnes.
Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam, president and group chief executive of MISC, pointed out that “This strategic transaction is a testament to MISC’s commitment to enhancing our financial flexibility and our ability to adapt to evolving industry dynamics. This is part of our MISC 2030 business strategy to unlock value, maximising returns from our GAS portfolio, whilst growing commercial and operational scale for our shipping segment.”
Captain Katsuya Abe, president of Nissen Kaiun, noted, “We are very proud and excited to start our first time-charter business of LNG carriers for MISC. With support from Synergy Group and Eaglestar, we will strive for the safe operation of LNG carriers. Following this memorable first step, we hope to expand the relationship with MISC in LNG carriers and other segments too.”
Japans´s Nissen Kaiun owns and operates a wide variety of vessels, including gas carriers, oil and chemical tankers, bulk carriers and container ships.
