This follows transfer of ownership of the vessels to Chinese company ICBC Financial Leasing (ICBCL) as part of a 51-vessel sale and bareboat commitment, and payment of $144 million.
An additional 15 vessels in operation will be transferred under a similar arrangement within two months, with 27 more vessels under construction to follow within 10 months.
Last April, Bourbon signed the terms for the first phase of its “transforming for beyond” action plan with ICBCL. This involved a 10‐year fixed rate (10.66%) bareboat charter of up to 51 supply vessels either in operation (24 on that date) or under construction (27 with delivery expected before June 2014), for a total of up to $1.5 billion.