Otto Marine has secured a long term bareboat charter contract worth $26m for its DP2 work maintenance vessel.

The 238-men vessel is currently being built at a third-party yard, and is slated to be delivered by end-2015. The vessel will be deployed in the Asia Pacific region once the charter starts.

“Further to the first unit of the 238-men, DP2 work maintenance vessel that we took delivery and chartered out to the Southeast Asia region in August 2015, we are pleased to secure the charter for another vessel in the series that is on schedule for delivery,” said Michael See, group ceo of Singapore-based Otto Marine.

“This is in line with our strategy to maintain a healthy quantity of our own vessels in the fleet, in view of the better margins they can generate. Our strategy to upgrade and renew our fleet and increase the number of younger vessels has also gradually enhanced our business fundamentals,” See said.

He added that the group has adopted a “prudent and pragmatic approach” in its chartering business amid the continually weak operating environment.

“With our tenacious effort in optimising the deployment of our fleet, utilisation rate has improved progressively. We achieved fleet utilisation of approximately 82% for the third quarter of financial year 2015 and year-to-date fleet utilisation of approximately 77%,” See said.