COSCO has moved ahead with a $360m sale-and-leaseback agreement involving one of the world’s largest LNG carriers, extending its ties with Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL).
COSCO Shipping Development, the financing arm of China’s state-controlled shipping giant, said its subsidiary Oriental Fleet is acquiring a 271,000 cu m QC-Max newbuilding from MOL’s unit.
Delivery is slated for July 2029, after which the vessel will immediately be chartered back to MOL under a 20-year bareboat lease. Over the charter period, MOL will pay more than $440m in hire, with ownership to transfer back for $1 at the end of the term.
COSCO Shipping Development said the deal fits into its core ship leasing strategy and enhances the scale and quality of its assets.
The move builds on COSCO and MOL’s wider cooperation with QatarEnergy. Late last year, the pair joined forces on six supersize gas carrier newbuilds worth $2bn, ordered at Hudong-Zhonghua, following a 2022 contract covering seven 174,000-cbm vessels.
The QC-Max series, ordered in September 2023, represent the largest LNG carriers ever contracted with deliveries scheduled from 2028 to 2031.
