The quarter's result marks a slight drop over Q3's $35m profit. Offshore accounted for 52% of the quarter's $179m charter revenues, with tankers bringing in 28%, dry bulk 11% and container ships 9%.
In total 16 vessels joined the Fredriksen-backed SFL fleet during 2014, with nine ships sold as part of ongoing fleet renewal.
The company's last two 8,700 teu newbuilds were delivered straight into seven-year charters with Hamburg Süd in January 2015.
SFL is exposed to the strong tanker market through cash sweeps with Frontline and a pair of suezmaxes operating in the spot market in a pool. The cash sweep rose from $7.9m in the third quarter to $11.3m in the fourth.
SFL has a $3.9bn charter backlog, not including cash sweeps and profit shares, spread across the offshore, container, tanker and dry bulk sectors. The average remaining charter term is 5.4 years.
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