A JAPANESE shipping company Kumiai Senpaku Co. Ltd. will finance the construction and acquisition of a new passenger vessel for Starlite Ferries, Inc., according to the latter’s parent company Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp. (CLC).
The 98-meter passenger ferry is being built in Hiroshima, Japan by Kegoya Dock Co. Ltd. It is set to be delivered by April 2020.
“The vessel will be the subject of a 20-year Bareboat Charter Agreement between Kumiai’s subsidiary, Southern Pacific Holding Corporation as owner, and Starlite Ferries as Charterer. The Bareboat Charter Agreement comes with an irrevocable obligation for Starlite Ferries to purchase the vessel at the end of the 20-year Charter Period,” CLC said in a statement.
Starlite Ferries and Southern Pacific signed the agreement for the passenger ferry on May 26. At the same time, CLC signed a letter of guarantee in favor of Southern Pacific, in connection with Starlite Ferries’ obligations and undertakings under the agreement.
“Our new strategic partnership with Kumiai underscores our long standing and ongoing commitment to shipping modernization, becoming the country’s prime mover of vital goods, cargoes and people. We look to Kumiai as a leader in Japan’s shipping industry, whose excellence can bring our local shipping industry to global standards,” CLC President and CEO Chryss Alfonsus V. Damuy said in a statement.
Kumiai Senpaku had previously financed the acquisition of a 67-meter passenger ferry by CLC subsidiary Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc. The ferry was delivered in November 2018.
To date, CLC operates 16 tankers, 23 RoPax vessels, 11 cargo vessels and 16 tugboats through Chelsea Shipping, Starlite Ferries, Trans-Asia and Fortis Tugs.
