Philly Shipyard, a wholly- owned subsidiary of Philly Shipyard ASA, has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an unnamed blue chip U.S. shipping operating company for the construction and sale of up to four new containerships.

As disclosed, the LOI comes on the heels of advanced talks between the parties Philly Shipyards already informed about.

The environmentally friendly boxships are the continuation of the series of two similar 3,600 TEU Aloha Class containerships currently under construction at PSI for the Hawaii trade-lane and are planned for deliveries in 2020 and 2021.

“Under the terms of the LOI, it is contemplated that the shipping operating company will make an initial order for two 3,700 TEU containerships and receive options to order two additional sister ships. It is intended that these vessels will service the containership trade between the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii,” the shipbuilder said.

PSI has already begun construction of the vessels in order to support their optimal delivery dates.

The deal is subject to final agreement and fulfillment of certain closing conditions.

Currently, Philly Shipyard is building two 50,000 DWT tankers for a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan and two 3,600 TEU containerships for use in the Hawaii trade for Matson Navigation Company.