Large LNG carrier Flex Freedom has just completed sea and gas trials and will soon come to the market equipped with high-pressure slow-speed MEGI two-stroke engines and a full reliquefaction system, bringing Flex LNG’s fleet to 11 vessels
Flex Freedom has just completed sea and gas trials and will soon come to the market, according to social media posts from Flex LNG.
The vessel was built at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) yard in South Korea and will be the 11th ship in the FLEX LNG fleet once delivered. It is one of several newbuilds on Flex LNG’s orderbook.
Traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol FLNG, Flex LNG had six LNG carriers in operation as of Q4 2019, with seven newbuilds under construction. Its existing fleet all have MAN Energy Solution’s ME-GI propulsion and four of the LNG carriers, Flex Enterprise, Flex Constellation, Flex Courageous and Flex Endeavour (pictured above) are fitted with partial reliquefaction technology.
Three of the newbuilds, Flex Artemis, Flex Resolute and Flex Freedom, will have ME-GI propulsion with full reliquefaction system technology. Those LNG carriers, each with a capacity of 173,400 m3, have been or are being built by South Korea’s DSME.
Four 174,000-m3 newbuilds, under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HSHI) due for delivery over 2020 and 2021, will have WinGD X-DF propulsion.
DSME is currently slated to deliver Flex Freedom to Flex LNG in Q4 2020.
Sister vessels Flex Volunteer and Flex Vigilant are under construction at HSHI, with expected deliveries of Q1 2021 and Q2 2021, respectively.
In August 2020, Flex LNG took delivery from DSME of Flex Artemis which immediately commenced its long-term time charter with Clearlake Shipping, a subsidiary of the Gunvor Group. The charter has a firm period of five years, with the charterer’s option to extend the charter period for an additional five years, in 12-month periods. The time charter has elements of a variable rate of hire.
Flex LNG signed the five-year charter agreement at the end of 2018 with trading firm Gunvor for 173,400-m³ Flex Artemis. Flex LNG has 10 LNG carriers in operation on fixed-hire time charters, carriable hire time charters or on the spot market. Flex Endeavour is one of three of the company’s vessels operating on the spot market.
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