![A Starlite Ferries vessel Image: Wikimedia Commons/Lawrence Ruiz](http://media.assettype.com/bairdmaritime%2Fimport%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fmedia%2Fk2%2Fitems%2Fsrc%2F3a35607fc7b00bed625a5b8209ae179d.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
Japanese shipping company Kumiai Senpaku has entered into an agreement wherein it will finance the construction of a new vessel for Philippine Ro-Pax operator Starlite Ferries.
The vessel is under construction at the Hiroshima facility of Kegoya Dock and is scheduled to be delivered by April of next year.
The vessel will be the subject of a 20-year bareboat charter agreement wherein Kumiai subsidiary Southern Pacific Holding Corporation will be the owner and Starlite will be the charterer.
The same agreement comes with an irrevocable obligation for Starlite to purchase the vessel at the end of the charter period.
Kumiai had earlier provided financing for a 67-metre vessel currently operated by Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Starlite's sister company under Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corporation (CLC).