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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER

PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-16 OR 15D-16 UNDER

THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the month of September 2019

Commission File Number: 001-32199

SFL Corporation Ltd

(Translation of registrant’s name into English)

Par-la-Ville Place

14 Par-la-Ville Road

Hamilton, HM 08, Bermuda

(Address of principal executive office)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F x Form 40-F ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): .

Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted solely to provide an attached annual report to security holders.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): .

Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted to furnish a report or other document that the registrant foreign private issuer must furnish and make public under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the registrant is incorporated, domiciled or legally organized (the registrant’s “home country”), or under the rules of the home country exchange on which the registrant’s securities are traded, as long as the report or other document is not a press release, is not required to be and has not been distributed to the registrant’s security holders, and, if discussing a material event, has already been the subject of a Form 6-K submission or other Commission filing on EDGAR.

INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS FORM 6-K REPORT

Attached hereto are the unaudited condensed interim financial statements and related Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of SFL Corporation Ltd (formally Ship Finance International Limited,) ("SFL" or "the Company”) for the six months ended June 30, 2019.

This report on Form 6-K is hereby incorporated by reference into the Company’s registration statement on Form F-3 (Registration No. 333-213783), filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on September 26, 2016.

SFL CORPORATION LTD

REPORT ON FORM 6-K FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2019

INDEX



Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2018	Page 4
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2018	Page 5
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018	Page 6
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2018	Page 7
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2018	Page 8
Notes to the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements	Page 9
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	Page 33
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statement	Page 43
Signatures	Page 45

SFL Corporation Ltd

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018

and the year ended December 31, 2018

(in thousands of $, except per share amounts)



	Six months ended						Year ended
	June 30,						December 31,
	2019			2018			2018
Operating revenues
Direct financing lease interest income - related parties	1,932			5,986			9,623
Direct financing and sales-type lease interest income - other	26,484			13,905			30,055
Finance lease service revenues - related parties	4,887			13,428			22,095
Profit sharing revenues - related parties	1,547			—			1,779
Time charter revenues - related parties	25,752			26,498			53,258
Time charter revenues - other	143,225			100,499			239,468
Bareboat charter revenues - other	12,494			18,850			36,222
Voyage charter revenues - other	9,428			9,381			24,339
Other operating income	1,696			597			1,873
Total operating revenues	227,445			189,144			418,712
(Loss)/gain on sale of assets and termination of charters, net	—			(1,623		)	(2,578		)
Gain/(loss) on sale of subsidiaries and disposal groups	—			—			7,613
Operating expenses
Vessel operating expenses - related parties	16,453			24,847			45,266
Vessel operating expenses - other	49,059			36,711			83,282
Depreciation	58,648			46,444			104,079
Vessel impairment charge	—			21,779			64,338
Administrative expenses - related parties	894			495			1,072
Administrative expenses - other	5,011			4,662			8,095
Total operating expenses	130,065			134,938			306,132
Net operating income	97,380			52,583			117,615
Non-operating income/(expense)
Interest income - related parties, long term loans to associated companies	7,064			7,064			14,128
Interest income - related parties, other	850			—			880
Interest income - other	2,376			1,112			2,943
Interest expense - related parties	—			(1,422		)	(6,378		)
Interest expense - other	(72,165		)	(47,383		)	(107,508		)
Gain/(loss) on repurchase of bonds and extinguishment of debt	1,802			—			1,146
Impairment of loan notes	(8,225		)	—			—
Net unrealized gain/(loss) on equity securities	27,323			15,304			12,277
Dividend income - related parties	2,164			—			—
Realized gain/(loss) on sale of debt and equity securities	—			—			13,477
Other financial items, net	(5,847		)	5,712			10,407
Net income before equity in earnings of associated companies	52,722			32,970			58,987
Equity in earnings of associated companies	8,991			7,451			14,635
Net income	61,713			40,421			73,622
Per share information:
Basic earnings per share	$	0.57		$	0.39		$	0.70
Diluted earnings per share	$	0.56		$	0.39		$	0.69

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

SFL Corporation Ltd

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018

and the year ended December 31, 2018

(in thousands of $)



	Six months ended				Year ended
	June 30,				December 31,
	2019		2018		2018
Net income	61,713		40,421		73,622

Fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	(11,648	)	9,119		(3,433	)
Earnings reclassification of previously deferred fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	—		126		(3,127	)
Fair value adjustments to investment securities classified as available-for-sale	(296	)	4,540		2,244
Fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments in associated companies	—		361		(206	)
Other comprehensive income/(loss)	22		(1	)	(74	)
Other comprehensive (loss)/income, net of tax	(11,922	)	14,145		(4,596	)

Comprehensive income	49,791		54,566		69,026

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

SFL Corporation Ltd

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

as at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018

(in thousands of $, except share data)



	June 30, 2019		December 31, 2018
ASSETS
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	212,400		211,394
Restricted cash	—		1,000
Investments in debt and equity securities	115,558		87,174
Due from related parties	15,970		41,771
Trade accounts receivable	2,519		2,976
Other receivables	26,239		13,041
Inventories	7,088		8,547
Prepaid expenses and accrued income	2,255		2,593
Investment in direct financing and sales-type leases, current portion	43,807		39,804
Financial instruments (short-term): at fair value	—		5,279
Total current assets	425,836		413,579
Vessels and equipment, net	1,493,084		1,559,712
Vessels and equipment under capital lease, net	732,549		749,889
Investment in direct financing and sales-type leases, long-term portion	766,044		762,355
Investment in associated companies	34,098		25,107
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term	312,660		310,144
Long-term receivables from related parties	14,629		15,616
Financial instruments (long-term): at fair value	2,597		10,633
Other long-term assets	25,388		30,810
Total assets	3,806,885		3,877,845

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities
Short-term debt and current portion of long-term debt	188,029		267,149
Current portion of obligations under capital leases	69,491		67,793
Due to related parties	816		1,349
Trade accounts payable	1,540		1,945
Financial instruments (short-term): at fair value	4,390		45,047
Accrued expenses	11,999		12,510
Other current liabilities	9,773		8,332
Total current liabilities	286,038		404,125
Long-term liabilities
Long-term debt	1,274,663		1,169,931
Obligations under capital leases	1,071,661		1,104,258
Financial instruments (long-term): at fair value	16,713		16,213
Other long-term liabilities	3,183		3,286
Total liabilities	2,652,258		2,697,813

Commitments and contingent liabilities
Stockholders’ equity
Share capital ($0.01 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; 119,375,525 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2019). ($0.01 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; 119,373,064 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2018).	1,194		1,194
Additional paid-in capital	468,973		468,844
Contributed surplus	680,703		680,703
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(12,174	)	(220	)
Retained earnings	15,931		29,511
Total stockholders’ equity	1,154,627		1,180,032
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	3,806,885		3,877,845

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

SFL Corporation Ltd

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018

and the year ended December 31, 2018

(in thousands of $)



	Six months ended				Year ended
	June 30,				December 31,
	2019		2018		2018
Operating activities
Net income	61,713		40,421		73,622
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation	58,648		46,444		104,079
Long-term assets impairment charge	8,225		—		1,730
Vessel impairment charge	—		21,779		64,338
Amortization of deferred charges	4,184		3,988		10,187
Amortization of seller’s credit	(103	)	(308	)	(447	)
Amortization of long-term charter contracts	2,680		238		1,699
Equity in earnings of associated companies	(8,991	)	(7,451	)	(14,635	)
Loss/(gain) on sale of assets and termination of charters	—		1,623		2,578
Loss/(gain) on sale of subsidiary and disposal groups	—		—		(7,613	)
Adjustment of derivatives to fair value recognized in net income	6,315		(6,458	)	(13,898	)
Unrealized gain on marketable securities	(27,323	)	(15,304	)	(12,277	)
Realized gain on sale of debt and equity securities	—		—		(13,476	)
Loss/(gain) on repurchase of bonds and extinguishment of debt	(1,802	)	—		(1,146	)
Other, net	966		219		1,108
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Trade accounts receivable	457		9,601		9,607
Due from related parties	754		2,698		(1,308	)
Other receivables	(13,355	)	(3,774	)	(3,870	)
Inventories	1,460		(1,664	)	(3,423	)
Other current assets	157		—		(157	)
Prepaid expenses and accrued income	338		(473	)	(301	)
Trade accounts payable	(405	)	419		2,370
Accrued expenses	(510	)	(911	)	(433	)
Other current liabilities	196		3,017		2,641
Net cash provided by operating activities	93,604		94,104		200,975
Investing activities
Repayments from investments in direct financing and sales-type leases	20,373		17,064		33,486
Additions to finance lease	(1,065	)	—		—
Purchase of vessels and capital improvements	(1,099	)	(511,016	)	(1,137,703	)
Proceeds from sales of vessels and termination of charters	—		30,169		145,654
Proceeds from sale of subsidiaries, net of cash disposed of	—		—		83,485
Net amounts received from/(paid to) associated companies	22,984		24,116		(24,161	)
Other investments and long term assets, net	(6,092	)	—		32,675
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities	35,101		(439,667	)	(866,564	)
Financing activities
Proceeds from capital leases	—		—		944,097
Principal settlements of cross currency swaps, net	(41,769	)	—		—
Repurchase of bonds	(80,749	)	(63,218	)	(97,248	)
Proceeds from issuance of short-term and long-term debt	217,338		553,000		825,984
Repayments of short-term and long-term debt	(115,739	)	(69,226	)	(778,731	)
Discounts received on debt repurchased	1,654		—		—
Debt fees paid	(3,210	)	(5,611	)	(8,257	)
Repayment of lease obligation liability	(30,899	)	(3,730	)	(11,653	)
Cash dividends paid	(75,325	)	(73,917	)	(149,261	)
Net cash (used in)/provided by financing activities	(128,699	)	337,298		724,931

Net change in cash and cash equivalents	6		(8,265	)	59,342
Cash, restricted cash and cash equivalents at start of the period	212,394		153,052		153,052
Cash, restricted cash and cash equivalents at end of the period	212,400		144,787		212,394

Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:
Interest paid, net of capitalized interest	67,317		45,301		104,620

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated condensed financial statements.

SFL Corporation Ltd

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and June 30, 2018

and the year ended December 31, 2018

(in thousands of $, except number of shares)



	Six months ended				Year ended
	June 30,				December 31,
	2019		2018		2018
Number of shares outstanding
At beginning of period	119,373,064		110,930,873		110,930,873
Shares issued	2,461		8,442,191		8,442,191
At end of period	119,375,525		119,373,064		119,373,064
Share capital
At beginning of period	1,194		1,109		1,109
Shares issued	—		85		85
At end of period	1,194		1,194		1,194
Additional paid-in capital
At beginning of period	468,844		403,659		403,659
Amortization of stock-based compensation	409		234		454
Stock-based compensation forfeitures	(49	)	—		(33	)
Shares issued arising from conversion of 3.25% convertible bonds due 2018	—		9,927		9,927
Adjustment to equity component arising from reacquisition of 3.25% convertible bonds due 2018	—		(9,933	)	(9,933	)
Adjustment to equity component of convertible bonds due 2021 and 2023 arising from reacquisition of bonds	(231	)	—		(1,096	)
Shares issued arising from consideration paid on vessel acquisitions	—		57,960		57,960
Recognition of equity component arising from issuance of 4.875% convertible bonds due 2023	—		7,905		7,906
At end of period	468,973		469,752		468,844
Contributed surplus
At beginning of period	680,703		680,703		680,703
At end of period	680,703		680,703		680,703
Accumulated other comprehensive (loss)/income
At beginning of period	(220	)	(94,612	)	(94,612	)
Earnings reclassification of previously deferred fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	—		126		(3,127	)
Fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	(11,648	)	9,119		(3,433	)
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01	—		98,782		98,782
Reclassification of ineffective portion of designated hedging instruments upon adoption of ASU 2017-12	(32	)	—		—
Fair value adjustments to available-for-sale securities	(296	)	4,540		2,244
Other comprehensive (loss)/income	22		(1	)	(74	)
At end of period	(12,174	)	17,954		(220	)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss - associated companies
At beginning of period	—		206		206
Fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	—		361		(206	)
At end of period	—		567		—
Retained earnings
At beginning of period	29,511		203,932		203,932
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01	—		(98,782	)	(98,782	)
Reclassification of ineffective portion of designated hedging instruments upon adoption of ASU 2017-12	32		—		—
Net income	61,713		40,421		73,622
Dividends declared	(75,325	)	(73,917	)	(149,261	)
At end of period	15,931		71,654		29,511
Total stockholders’ equity	1,154,627		1,241,824		1,180,032

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.

SFL CORPORATION LTD

Notes to the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements


1.	INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA

The unaudited condensed interim financial statements of SFL Corporation Ltd (formerly Ship Finance International Limited) (“SFL” or the “Company”) have been prepared on the same basis as the Company’s audited financial statements and, in the opinion of management, include all material adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments considered necessary in order to make the interim financial statements not misleading, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”). The accompanying unaudited condensed interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements and notes included in the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018. The results of operations for the interim period ended June 30, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results for the entire year ending December 31, 2019.

Basis of accounting

The condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with US GAAP. The condensed consolidated financial statements include the assets and liabilities and results of operations of the Company and its subsidiaries including variable interest entities in which SFL is deemed to be the primary beneficiary. All inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated on consolidation.

The condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with the accounting policies described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13 "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses" to introduce new guidance for the accounting for credit losses on instruments within its scope. ASU 2016-13 requires among other things, the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable supportable forecasts. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. In addition, ASU 2016-13 amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. ASU 2016-13 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2016-13 on its consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13 "Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement". ASU 2018-13 includes certain removals, modifications and additions to the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is permitted to early adopt any removed or modified disclosures upon issuance of ASU 2018-13 and delay adoption of the additional disclosures until their effective date. The impact on the consolidated financial statements of the Company will depend on the facts and circumstances of any specific future transactions.

In October 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-16 "Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Inclusion of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) Overnight Index Swap (OIS) Rate as a Benchmark Interest Rate for Hedge Accounting Purposes." In the United States, eligible benchmark interest rates under Topic 815 are interest rates on direct Treasury obligations of the U.S. government (UST), the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) swap rate, and the Overnight Index Swap (OIS) Rate based on the Federal Funds Effective Rate. When the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, in August 2017, it introduced the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Municipal Swap Rate as the fourth permissible U.S. benchmark rate. The new ASU adds the OIS rate based on SOFR as a U.S. benchmark interest rate to facilitate the LIBOR to SOFR transition and provide sufficient lead time for entities to prepare for changes to interest rate risk hedging strategies for both risk management and hedge accounting purposes. ASU 2018-16 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2018-16 on the consolidated financial statements.

In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-18 "Collaborative Arrangements (Topic 808): Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606", which defines a collaborative arrangement as a contractual arrangement under which two or more parties actively participate in a joint operating activity and are exposed to significant risks and rewards that depend on the activity’s commercial success. The ASU provides guidance on how to assess whether certain transactions between collaborative arrangement participants should be accounted for within the revenue recognition standard.

The ASU also provides more comparability in the presentation of revenue for certain transactions between collaborative arrangement participants. It accomplishes this by allowing organizations to only present units of account in collaborative arrangements that are within the scope of the revenue recognition standard together with revenue accounted for under the revenue recognition standard. The parts of the collaborative arrangement that are not in the scope of the revenue recognition standard should be presented separately from revenue accounted for under the revenue recognition standard. ASU 2018-18 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company does not expect that the adoption of ASU 2018-18 will have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements.

Also in November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-19 "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses" to provide new guidance to mitigate the transition complexity by requiring entities other than public business entities, including not-for-profit organizations and certain employee benefit plans, to implement the credit losses standard issued in 2016, for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, including interim periods within those fiscal years. This aligns the implementation date for their annual financial statements with the implementation date for their interim financial statements. The guidance also clarifies that receivables arising from operating leases are not within the scope of the credit losses standard, but rather, should be accounted for in accordance with the leases standard. ASU 2018-19 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2018-19 on the consolidated financial statements.

In April 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-04 "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments" to clarify and improve areas of guidance related to the recently issued standards on credit losses, hedging, and recognition and measurement. ASU 2019-04 is effective as of the beginning of the first annual reporting period beginning after April 25, 2019 for amendments to ASU 2017-12 and for fiscal and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019 for amendments relating to ASU 2016-01 and ASU 2016-13. The Company does not expect that the adoption of ASU 2019-04 will have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements.

In May 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-05 "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief" to provide an option to irrevocably elect the fair value option for certain financial assets previously measured at amortized cost basis. ASU 2019-05 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2019-05 on its consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02 "Leases" to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. ASU 2016-02 creates a new Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842 "Leases" to replace the previous Topic 840 "Leases." ASU 2016-02 affects both lessees and lessors, although for the latter the provisions are similar to the previous model, but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model and also the new revenue recognition provisions contained in Topic 606. ASU 2016-02 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018.

The Company has adopted ASC 842 effective January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective transition approach, which allows the Company to recognize a cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit in the period of adoption rather than restate our comparative prior year periods. Based on the Company's analysis, the cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit is zero because (i) the Company does not have any unamortized initial direct costs as of January 1, 2019 that need to be written off; (ii) the Company does not have any lease incentives or accrued rental transactions that needs to be recognized; and (iii) the timing and pattern of revenue recognition under its revenue contracts that have lease and non-lease components is not materially different. The Company has elected the package of practical expedients applied to all of its leases (including those for which it is a lessee and lessor) that permit it not to (i) reassess whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; (ii) reassess the lease classification for any expired or existing leases and (iii) reassess initial direct costs for any existing leases. Furthermore the Company has not elected the practical expedient to use hindsight when determining the lease term.

For arrangements where we are the lessor, the new lease standard provides a practical expedient for lessors in which the lessor may elect, by class of underlying asset, to not separate non-lease components from the associated lease component and, instead, to account for these components as a single component if both of the following are met: (1) the timing and pattern of transfer of the non-lease component(s) and associated lease component are the same and (2) the lease component, if accounted for separately, would be classified as an operating lease. When a lessor, we have elected this expedient for our time charter contracts, voyage charter and bareboat charter contracts that qualify as operating leases and thus do not separate the non-lease component, or service element, from the lease. Revenues from contracts where the non-lease component is the predominant component are accounted for under ASC 606. The adoption of ASC 842 did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-12 "Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities" to enable entities to better portray the economics of their risk management activities in the financial statements and enhance the transparency and understandability of hedge results. The amendments also simplify the application of hedge accounting in certain situations. ASU 2017-12 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. Upon adoption, the cumulative effect of adopting this guidance resulted in a net adjustment of $32 thousand to the opening balance of retained earnings as of January 1, 2019.


2.	GAIN ON SALE OF ASSETS AND TERMINATION OF CHARTERS

No vessels were sold or charters terminated during the six months ended June 30, 2019.

In February 2018, the VLCC Front Circassia, which was accounted for as a direct financing lease asset, was sold to an unrelated third party. A loss of $1.4 million was recorded on the disposal, the proceeds of which included $17.9 million gross sales proceeds and compensation in the form of a loan note of $4.4 million at fair value was received for the early termination of the charter (see Note 15: Related party transactions).

In May 2018, the container vessel SFL Avon, which was accounted for as an operating lease asset, was sold to an unrelated third party. Gross proceeds of $12.7 million were received on the sale, resulting in a loss of $0.2 million on disposal.


3.	EARNINGS PER SHARE

The computation of basic earnings per share (“EPS”) is based on the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the period. Diluted EPS includes the effect of the assumed conversion of potentially dilutive instruments.

The components of the numerator for the calculation of basic and diluted EPS are as follows:



	Six months ended		Year ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018	December 31, 2018
Basic earnings per share:
Net income available to stockholders	61,713	40,421	73,622
Diluted earnings per share:
Net income available to stockholders	61,713	40,421	73,622
Interest and other expenses attributable to convertible bonds	11,319	261	123
Net income assuming dilution	73,032	40,682	73,745

The components of the denominator for the calculation of basic and diluted EPS are as follows:



	Six months ended		Year ended
(in thousands)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018	December 31, 2018
Basic earnings per share:
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding	107,608	104,160	105,898
Diluted earnings per share:
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding*	107,608	104,160	105,898
Effect of dilutive share options	50	62	59
Effect of dilutive convertible bonds	21,677	818	1,649
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding assuming dilution	129,335	105,040	107,606



	Six months ended				Year ended
	June 30, 2019		June 30, 2018		December 31, 2018
Basic earnings per share:	$	0.57	$	0.39	$	0.70
Diluted earnings per share:	$	0.56	$	0.39	$	0.69

*The weighted average number of common shares outstanding excludes 8,000,000 shares issued as part of a share lending arrangement relating to the Company's issuance of 5.75% senior unsecured convertible bonds in October 2016. It also excludes 3,765,842 shares issued as of June 30, 2019 from up to 7,000,000 shares issuable under a share lending arrangement relating to the Company's issuance of 4.875% senior unsecured convertible bonds in April and May 2018. These lent shares are owned by the Company and will be returned on or before maturity of the bonds in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

In February 2018, the Company redeemed the full outstanding amount under the 3.25% senior unsecured convertible bonds due

2018. The remaining outstanding principal amount of $63.2 million was paid in cash, and the premium settled in common shares with the issue of 651,365 new shares.

As of June 30, 2019, the 4.875% senior unsecured convertible bonds issued in April and May 2018 and the 5.75% senior unsecured convertible bonds issued in October 2016 were dilutive.


4.	OTHER FINANCIAL AND NON-OPERATING ITEMS

Other financial items, net comprise the following items:



	Six months ended				Year ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019		June 30, 2018		December 31, 2018
Net cash movement on non-designated derivatives	702		(647	)	(721	)
Net (decrease)/increase in fair value of non-designated derivatives	(6,316	)	6,492		13,908
Other items	(233	)	(133	)	(2,780	)
Total other financial items, net	(5,847	)	5,712		10,407

The net movement in the fair values of non-designated derivatives and net cash movement thereon relates to non-designated, terminated or de-designated interest rate swaps and cross currency interest rate swaps. Changes in the fair values of interest rate swaps that are designated as cash flow hedges are reported under “Other comprehensive income”.

Other items in the six months ended June 30, 2019 include a gain of $0.1 million arising from foreign currency translation. In the year ended December 31, 2018 other items included foreign currency translation net loss of $2.0 million (six months ended June 30, 2018: gain of $0.1 million). Other items also include bank charges and fees relating to loan facilities.

Following the adoption of ASU 2017-12 from January 2019, the Company now recognizes any changes in the fair value of swaps designated as accounting hedges in other comprehensive income. The adoption of the standard resulted in an opening balance adjustment of $32.0 thousand from retained earnings to other comprehensive income. See also Recently Adopted Accounting Standards within Note 1.

Other non-operating items in the income statement comprise the following items:



	Six months ended			Year ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019		June 30, 2018	December 31, 2018
Impairment of loan notes	(8,225	)	—	—

In February 2016, the offshore support vessel Sea Bear, then chartered to a subsidiary of Deep Sea was sold and its lease canceled. An agreed termination fee was received in the form of a loan note from Deep Sea, receivable over the approximately six remaining years of the canceled lease. The note received interest at 7.25% and has a face value of $14.6 million. The note was evaluated to have an initial fair value of $11.6 million which was determined from analysis of projected cash flows, based on factors including the terms, provisions and other characteristics of the notes, default risk of the issuing entity, the fundamental financial and other characteristics of that entity, and the current economic environment and relevant trading activity in the debt market. In June 2017, Deep Sea completed a merger with Solstad Offshore ASA and Farstad Shipping ASA, creating Solstad Farstad ASA. In October 2018, Solstad Farstad ASA changed its name to Solstad Offshore ASA ("Solstad"). The loan note is unsecured and not guaranteed by its holding company. During the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company concluded that the loan note was no longer recoverable and fully provided against it.


5.	INVESTMENTS IN DEBT AND EQUITY SECURITIES

Investment securities held by the Company consist of the following investments in corporate bonds and equity securities:



	Six months ended June 30, 2019				Year ended December 31, 2018
(in thousands of $)	Amortised Cost	Unrealised gains/(losses)*		Fair value	Amortised Cost	Unrealised gains/(losses)*	Fair value
Corporate bonds:
NorAm Drilling	4,423	477		4,900	4,715	477	5,192
Oro Negro Bond	7,886	(168	)	7,718	7,886	167	8,053
Oro Negro Super Senior Bond	1,564	39		1,603	—	—	—
Total corporate bonds	13,873	348		14,221	12,601	644	13,245
Total equity securities	73,929	27,408		101,337	63,633	10,296	73,929
Total Investments	87,802	27,756		115,558	76,234	10,940	87,174

* This includes foreign currency gains or losses on non U.S. dollar denominated equity investments in addition to the changes in the fair value from market prices movements.

Corporate Bonds

The investments in corporate bonds at June 30, 2019, consist of investments in Oro Negro and NorAm Drilling Company AS ("NorAm Drilling") bonds which have a total carrying value of $14.2 million (December 31, 2018: $13.2 million) and have maturities in 2019 and 2021. In April 2019, the Company acquired 12% Super Senior Callable Liquidity Bonds from Oro Negro with a face value of $1.6 million. During six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company redeemed $0.3 million under the 9% Senior Secured Callable Bonds due 2021 and recorded no gain or loss on redemption.

The corporate bonds are classified as available-for-sale securities and are recorded at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses recorded as a separate component of "Other comprehensive income". The accumulated net unrealized gain on these available-for-sale corporate debt securities included in "Other comprehensive income" at June 30, 2019, was $0.3 million (December 31, 2018: gain of $0.6 million).

Equity Securities

The investments in shares at June 30, 2019 consist of listed shares in Frontline with a carrying value of $88.0 million (December 31, 2018: $60.8 million), shares in NorAm Drilling traded in the Norwegian Over the Counter market ("OTC") with a carrying value of $4.2 million (December 31, 2018: $3.9 million), and shares in ADS Crude Carriers Plc. ("ADS"), listed on the Merkur Market at the Oslo Stock Exchange with a carrying value of $9.2 million at June 30, 2019 (December 31, 2018: $9.2 million). See also Note 15: Related party transactions.


6.	VESSELS AND EQUIPMENT, NET



(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
Cost	1,916,581	1,955,880
Accumulated depreciation	423,497	396,168
Vessels and equipment, net	1,493,084	1,559,712

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, the 5,800 TEU container vessels MSC Margarita and MSC Vidhi, previously recorded as operating lease assets, were reclassified as sales-type leases. The reclassification occurred as a result of amendments to the existing charter contracts. The carrying value of the container vessels reclassified from vessels and equipment to investments in finance leases was $27.0 million (Refer to Note 8: Investments in direct financing and sales-type leases).

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company capitalized costs of $1.0 million related to exhaust gas cleaning systems ("scrubbers") and ballast water treatment systems (year ended December 31, 2018: $0.5 million).


7.	VESSELS UNDER CAPITAL LEASE, NET



(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
Cost	755,058	754,392
Accumulated depreciation	22,509	4,503
Vessels under capital lease, net	732,549	749,889

As at June 30, 2019, seven vessels were accounted for as vessels under capital lease, including four 13,800 TEU container vessels and three 10,600 container vessels. These vessels were refinanced through Asian based financial institutions by entering into separate sale and leaseback financing arrangements. The vessels are leased back for an original term ranging from six to 11 years, with options to purchase each vessel after six years.

8. INVESTMENTS IN DIRECT FINANCING AND SALES-TYPE LEASES

As at June 30, 2019, the Company had three VLCC crude tankers accounted for as direct financing leases (December 31, 2018: three VLCCs). These vessels are on charter to Frontline Shipping Limited (“Frontline Shipping”) on long-term, fixed rate time charters which span various periods depending on the age of the vessels, ranging from approximately six to eight years. Frontline Shipping is a wholly owned subsidiary of Frontline, a related party. The terms of the charters do not provide Frontline Shipping with an option to terminate the charters before the end of their terms.

The Company owns one offshore supply vessel accounted for as a direct finance lease which is chartered on a long-term bareboat charter, together with four other vessels accounted for as operating leases, to Deep Sea Supply Shipowning II AS (the “Solstad Charterer”). The Solstad Charterer is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Solship Invest 3 AS (“Solship”) which is in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of Solstad Offshore ASA (“Solstad”). In July 2018, the Company entered into a restructuring agreement with subsidiaries of Solstad, which became effective at the end of August 2018, whereby the Company will receive 50% of the agreed charter hire for two of the offshore support vessels. All other contracted charter hire income earned from fixed assets and finance lease assets will be deferred until the end of 2019. In April 2019, Solship announced that a Standstill Agreement had been entered into with, amongst others, the Company whereby 100% of charter hire for vessels on charter to Solship is deferred. The Standstill Agreement is effective until October 31, 2019.

In addition to the above four vessels leased to related and unrelated third parties, the Company also had 19 container vessels accounted for as direct financing leases and one container vessel accounted for as a sales-type lease as at June 30, 2019, which are on long-term bareboat charters to MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. ("MSC"), an unrelated party. The terms of the charters provide a fixed price put option, purchase option or purchase obligation at the expiry of the 15 year charter period for four of the container vessels, the charterer has purchase options throughout the term of the charters and the Company has a put option at the end of the seven year period for 15 container vessels, and the charterer has a minimum fixed price purchase obligation at the expiry of the five year charter period for the container vessel accounted for as a sales-type lease.

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, an additional two 5,800 TEU container vessels, MSC Margarita and MSC Vidhi, which were previously reported under vessels and equipment, were reclassified to sales type leases as a result of amendments made to the charter contract. Included in the amendments to the contracts, the charterer has a fixed price purchase obligation at the expiry of the additional five year charter period. The combined net book value of the vessels transferred was $27.0 million (Refer to Note 6: Vessels and equipment, net).

As at June 30, 2019, the Company had a total of 26 vessels accounted for as direct financing and sales-type leases (December 31, 2018: 24 vessels). The following lists the components of the investments in direct financing and sales-type leases as at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018:



(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019		December 31, 2018
Total minimum lease payments to be received	1,142,619		1,173,152
Less: amounts representing estimated executory costs including profit thereon, included in total minimum lease payments	(69,190	)	(74,077	)
Net minimum lease payments receivable	1,073,429		1,099,075
Estimated residual values of leased property (un-guaranteed)	192,080		180,080
Less: unearned income	(455,658	)	(476,996	)
Total investment in direct financing and sales-type leases	809,851		802,159

Current portion	43,807		39,804
Long-term portion	766,044		762,355
Total investment in direct financing and sales-type leases	809,851		802,159

Following the adoption of ASU 2016-02 from January 2019, the Company now records new and modified leases as per ASC 842. The Company has elected the practical expedient to not reassess existing leases. The adoption of the standard resulted in no opening balance adjustments. See also Recently Adopted Accounting Standards within Note 1.

9. INVESTMENTS IN ASSOCIATED COMPANIES

The Company has certain wholly-owned subsidiaries which are accounted for using the equity method, as it has been determined under ASC 810 that they are variable interest entities in which SFL is not the primary beneficiary.

At June 30, 2019, June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2018, the Company had the following participation in investments that were recorded using the equity method:



	June 30, 2019		June 30, 2018		December 31, 2018
SFL Deepwater Ltd (“SFL Deepwater”)	100	%	100	%	100	%
SFL Hercules Ltd (“SFL Hercules”)	100	%	100	%	100	%
SFL Linus Ltd (“SFL Linus”)	100	%	100	%	100	%

Summarized balance sheet information of the Company’s wholly-owned equity method investees is as follows:



	As of June 30, 2019
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Current assets	60,007	24,028	18,848	17,131
Non-current assets	944,994	294,563	282,125	368,306
Total assets	1,005,001	318,591	300,973	385,437
Current liabilities	60,345	18,019	19,088	23,238
Non-current liabilities	910,558	291,692	273,846	345,020
Total liabilities	970,903	309,711	292,934	368,258
Total stockholders’ equity	34,098	8,880	8,039	17,179



	As of December 31, 2018
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Current assets	58,089	19,558	16,858	21,673
Non-current assets	967,954	302,362	290,370	375,222
Total assets	1,026,043	321,920	307,228	396,895
Current liabilities	69,181	18,252	19,487	31,442
Non-current liabilities	931,755	297,060	281,627	353,068
Total liabilities	1,000,936	315,312	301,114	384,510
Total stockholders’ equity	25,107	6,608	6,114	12,385

Summarized statement of operations information of the Company’s wholly-owned equity method investees is as follows:



	Six months ended June 30, 2019
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Operating revenues	33,289	9,817	9,536	13,936
Net operating revenues	33,289	9,817	9,536	13,936
Net income	8,991	2,272	1,925	4,794



	Six months ended June 30, 2018
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Operating revenues	32,271	9,651	9,552	13,068
Net operating revenues	32,271	9,651	9,552	13,068
Net income	7,451	1,964	1,821	3,666



	Year ended December 31, 2018
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Operating revenues	64,572	19,594	19,126	25,852
Net operating revenues	64,410	19,540	19,049	25,821
Net income	14,635	3,973	3,372	7,290

SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus each own drilling units which have been leased to subsidiaries of Seadrill Limited (“Seadrill”), a related party. Because the main assets of SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus are the subject of leases which includes both fixed price call options and a fixed price purchase obligation or put option, it has been determined that these subsidiaries of SFL are variable interest entities in which SFL is not the primary beneficiary.

Each subsidiary has entered into a term loan and revolving credit facility as follows:



	Six months ended June 30, 2019
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Loan balance outstanding	645,918	195,801	210,000	240,117
Amount available to draw down	—	—	—	—
Amount guaranteed by SFL	266,114	84,697	78,947	102,470



	Year ended December 31, 2018
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Loan balance outstanding	655,186	203,686	210,000	241,500
Amount available to draw down	—	—	—	—
Amount guaranteed by SFL	266,114	84,697	78,947	102,470

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the six months ended June 30, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2018, SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus paid dividends as follows:



	Six months ended June 30, 2019
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Dividends Paid	—	—	—	—



	Six months ended June 30, 2018
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Dividends Paid	—	—	—	—



	Year ended December 31, 2018
(in thousands of $)	TOTAL	SFL Deepwater	SFL Hercules	SFL Linus
Dividends Paid	—	—	—	—

SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus have loan facilities for which SFL provides limited guarantees, as indicated above. These loan facilities originally contained financial covenants with which both SFL and Seadrill must comply. In September 2017, Seadrill announced that it had entered into a restructuring agreement (the “Restructuring Plan”) with more than 97% of its secured bank lenders, approximately 40% of its bondholders and a consortium of investors led by its largest shareholder, Hemen Holding Ltd (“Hemen”), who is also the largest shareholder in the Company. The Company, SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus have also entered into the Restructuring Plan, which has been implemented by way of prearranged Chapter 11 cases. As part of the Restructuring Plan, the financial covenants on Seadrill have been replaced by financial covenants on a newly established subsidiary of Seadrill, Seadrill Rig Holding Company Limited (“RigCo”), who also acts as guarantor for the obligations under the leases for the three drilling units, on a subordinated basis to the senior secured lenders in Seadrill and new secured notes. As at June 30, 2019, SFL and RigCo were in compliance with all of the covenants under these long-term debt facilities.


10.	SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM DEBT



(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019		December 31, 2018
Long-term debt:
NOK900 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2019	—		77,722
5.75% senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2021	212,230		212,230
NOK500 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2020	58,582		57,829
4.875% senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2023	148,300		151,700
NOK600 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023	70,298		69,395
NOK700 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2024	82,014		—
Total Fixed Rate and Foreign Debt	571,424		568,876
U.S. dollar denominated floating rate debt (LIBOR plus margin) due through 2025	913,207		891,471
Total debt principal	1,484,631		1,460,347
Less: Unamortized debt issuance costs	(21,939	)	(23,267	)
Less: Current portion of long-term debt	(188,029	)	(267,149	)
Total long-term debt	1,274,663		1,169,931



(in thousands of $)
		Fixed Rate and Foreign Debt		U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Debt		Total debt principal
Balance at	December 31, 2018	568,876		891,471		1,460,347
Drawdowns		79,862		137,476		217,338
Repayments and redemptions		(81,021	)	(115,740	)	(196,761	)
Effects of foreign exchange		3,707		—		3,707
Balance at	June 30, 2019	571,424		913,207		1,484,631

The outstanding debt as of June 30, 2019 is repayable as follows:



(in thousands of $)
Year ending December 31,

2019 (remaining six months)	76,104
2020	198,565
2021	513,236
2022	255,185
2023	280,353
Thereafter	161,188
Total debt principal	1,484,631

The weighted average interest rate for floating rate debt denominated in U.S. dollars and Norwegian kroner (“NOK”) was 4.19% per annum at June 30, 2019 (December 31, 2018: 4.22%). This rate takes into consideration the effect of related interest rate swaps. At June 30, 2019, the six month US Dollar London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, was 2.37% (December 31, 2018: 2.81%) and the Norwegian Interbank Offered Rate, or NIBOR, was 1.52% (December 31, 2018: 1.27%).

NOK900 million senior unsecured bonds due 2019

On March 19, 2014, the Company issued a senior unsecured bond loan totaling NOK900 million in the Norwegian credit market. The bonds bore quarterly interest at NIBOR plus a margin and were redeemable in full on March 19, 2019.

Since their issue, the Company purchased bonds with principal amounts totaling NOK228 million, net and the remaining outstanding amount of NOK672 million was fully redeemed in March 2019. Thus, there was no principal amount outstanding as at June 30, 2019 in respect of this bond (December 31, 2018: NOK672 million, equivalent to 77.7 million).

4.875% senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2023

On April 23, 2018, the Company issued a senior unsecured convertible bond loan totaling $150.0 million. Additional bonds were issued on May 4, 2018 at a principal amount of $14.0 million. Interest on the bonds is fixed at 4.875% per annum and is payable in cash quarterly in arrears on February 1, May 1, August 1 and November 1. The bonds are convertible into SFL Corporation Ltd common shares and mature on May 1, 2023. The initial conversion rate at the time of issuance was 52.8157 common shares per $1,000 bond, equivalent to a conversion price of approximately $18.93 per share. Since the issuance, dividend distributions have increased the conversion rate to 60.3956 common shares per $1,000 bond, equivalent to a conversion price of approximately $16.56 per share. Based on the closing price of our common stock of 12.51 on June 30, 2019, the if-converted value was less than the principal amounts by $36.3 million. In January 2019, the Company purchased bonds with principal amounts totaling $3.4 million (2018: $12.3 million). A gain of $0.3 million was recorded on the transaction in the six months ended June 30, 2019 (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0; year ended December 31, 2018: $0.4 million). The net amount outstanding at June 30, 2019 was $148.3 million (December 31, 2018: $151.7 million).

In conjunction with the bond issue, the Company agreed to loan up to 7,000,000 of its common shares to affiliates of the underwriters of the issue, in order to assist investors in the bonds to hedge their position. As at June 30, 2019, a total of 3,765,842 shares were issued from up to 7,000,000 shares issuable under a share lending arrangement.

As required by ASC 470-20 "Debt with conversion and Other Options", the Company calculated the equity component of the convertible bond, taking into account both the fair value of the conversion option and the fair value of the share lending arrangement. The equity component was valued at $7.9 million at issue date and this amount was recorded as "Additional paid-in capital", with a corresponding adjustment to "Deferred charges", which are amortized to "Interest expense" over the appropriate period. The amortization of this item amounted to $0.3 million in the six months ended June 30, 2019 (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0.3 million; year ended December 31, 2018: $1.0 million). As a result of the purchase of bonds with principal amounts totaling $3.4 million (December 31, 2018: $12.3 million), a total of $0.2 million (December 31, 2018: $0.6 million) was allocated as the reacquisition of the equity component.

$101.4 million secured term loan facility

In August 2014, six wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company entered into a $101.4 million secured term loan facility with a syndicate of banks, which was secured against six offshore supply vessels, one of which had been sold prior to December 31, 2018. The facility bore interest at LIBOR plus a margin and had a term of five years, maturing in January 2023. The net amount outstanding at December 31, 2018 was $44.1 million. In June 2019, the Company repurchased $11.0 million of the facility for $9.4 million and recognized a gain on debt extinguishment of $1.7 million. Following the repurchase, the remaining outstanding balance of $33.1 million was refinanced with a new $33.1 million term loan facility in June 2019.

$33.1 million term loan facility

In June 2019, five wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company entered into a $33.1 million term loan facility with a syndicate of banks. The Company has provided a corporate guarantee for this facility, which bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin and has a term of approximately four years. The net amount outstanding at June 30, 2019, was $33.1 million.

NOK700 million senior unsecured bonds due 2024

In June 2019, the Company issued a senior unsecured bond totaling NOK700 million in the Norwegian credit market. The bonds bear quarterly interest at NIBOR plus a margin and are redeemable in full on June 4, 2024. The net amount outstanding at June 30, 2019 was NOK700 million, equivalent to $82.0 million.

$24.9 million senior secured term loan facility

In February 2019, three wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company entered into a $24.9 million senior secured term loan facility with a bank, secured against three Supramax dry bulk carriers. The Company has provided a limited corporate guarantee for this facility, which bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin and has a term of approximately five years. The net amount outstanding at June 30, 2019, was $24.2 million.

$29.5 million term loan facility

In March 2019, two wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company entered into a $29.5 million term loan facility with a bank, secured against two car carriers. The Company has provided a corporate guarantee for this facility, which bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin and has a term of approximately five years. The net amount outstanding at June 30, 2019, was $29.0 million.

$50 million senior secured term loan facility

In February 2019, three wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company entered into a $50 million senior secured term loan facility with a bank, secured against three tankers chartered to Frontline Shipping. The Company has provided a corporate guarantee for this facility, which bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin and has a term of approximately four years. The net amount outstanding at June 30, 2019, was $50 million.

The aggregate book value of assets pledged as security against borrowings at June 30, 2019, was $1,650 million (December 31, 2018: $1,527 million).

Agreements related to long-term debt provide limitations on the amount of total borrowings and secured debt, and acceleration of payment under certain circumstances, including failure to satisfy certain financial covenants. As of June 30, 2019, the Company is in compliance with all of the covenants under its long-term debt facilities.


11.	FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

In certain situations, the Company may enter into financial instruments to reduce the risk associated with fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates. The Company has a portfolio of swaps which swap floating rate interest to fixed rate, and which also fix the Norwegian kroner to US dollar exchange rate applicable to the interest payable and principal repayment on the NOK bonds. From a financial perspective these swaps hedge interest rate and exchange rate exposure. The counterparties to such contracts are DNB Bank ASA, Nordea Bank Finland Plc., ABN AMRO Bank N.V., NIBC Bank N.V., Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ), ING Bank N.V., Danske Bank A/S, Swedbank AB (publ), Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank S.A. and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Credit risk exists to the extent that the counterparties are unable to perform under the contracts, but this risk is considered not to be substantial as the counterparties are all banks which have provided the Company with loans.

The following table presents the fair values of the Company’s derivative instruments that were designated as cash flow hedges and qualified as part of a hedging relationship, and those that were not designated:



(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
Non-designated derivative instruments - short-term assets:
Cross currency interest rate swaps	—	5,279
Total derivative instruments - short-term assets	—	5,279

Designated derivative instruments - long-term assets:
Interest rate swaps	2,597	5,459
Non-designated derivative instruments - long-term assets:
Interest rate swaps	—	5,174
Total derivative instruments - long-term assets	2,597	10,633

(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
Designated derivative instruments - short-term liabilities:
Cross currency interest rate swaps	4,390	33,004
Non-designated derivative instruments - short-term liabilities:
Cross currency interest rate swaps	—	12,043
Total derivative instruments - short-term liabilities	4,390	45,047

Designated derivative instruments - long-term liabilities:
Interest rate swaps	5,859	1,811
Cross currency interest rate swaps	8,953	4,709
Cross currency swaps	—	9,607
Non-designated derivative instruments - long-term liabilities:
Interest rate swaps	1,901	86
Total derivative instruments - long-term liabilities	16,713	16,213

Interest rate risk management

The Company manages its debt portfolio with interest rate swap agreements denominated in U.S. dollars and Norwegian kroner to achieve an overall desired position of fixed and floating interest rates. At June 30, 2019, the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries had entered into interest rate swap transactions, involving the payment of fixed and floating rates in exchange for LIBOR or NIBOR.

The total notional principal amount subject to swap agreements as at June 30, 2019, was $0.9 billion (December 31, 2018: $0.9 billion).

Foreign currency risk management

The Company is party to currency swap transactions, involving the payment of U.S. dollars in exchange for Norwegian kroner, which are designated as hedges against the NOK500 million, NOK600 million and NOK700 million senior unsecured bonds due 2020, 2023 and 2024 respectively.



Principal Receivable	Principal Payable	Inception date	Maturity date
NOK500 million	US$64.0 million	October 2017	March - June 2020
NOK600 million	US$76.8 million	September 2018	September 2023
NOK700 million	US$80.5 million	June 2019	June 2024

Apart from the NOK500 million, NOK600 million and NOK700 million senior unsecured bonds due 2020, 2023 and 2024, respectively, the majority of the Company’s transactions, assets and liabilities are denominated in U.S. dollars, the functional currency of the Company. Other than the corresponding currency swap transactions summarized above, the Company has not entered into forward contracts for either transaction or translation risk. Accordingly, there is a risk that currency fluctuations could have an adverse effect on the Company’s cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.

Fair Values

The carrying value and estimated fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities at June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018 are as follows:



	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018	December 31, 2018
(in thousands of $)	Carrying value	Fair value	Carrying value	Fair value
Non-derivatives:
Available-for-sale debt securities	14,221	14,221	13,245	13,245
Equity securities	101,337	101,337	73,929	73,929
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2019	—	—	77,722	77,916
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2020	58,582	60,368	57,829	58,841
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2023	70,298	70,562	69,395	69,568
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2024	82,014	82,014	—	—
5.75% unsecured convertible bonds due 2021	212,230	213,822	212,230	199,496
4.875% unsecured convertible bonds due 2023	148,300	149,819	151,700	139,374
Derivatives:
Interest rate/currency swap contracts - short-term receivables	—	—	5,279	5,279
Interest rate/currency swap contracts - long-term receivables	2,597	2,597	10,633	10,633
Interest rate/currency swap contracts - short-term payables	4,390	4,390	45,047	45,047
Interest rate/currency swap contracts - long-term payables	16,713	16,713	16,213	16,213

The above short-term receivables relating to interest rate/currency swap contracts all relate to non-designated hedges at December 31, 2018. The above long-term receivables relating to interest rate/currency swap contracts at June 30, 2019, include $nil which relates to non-designated swap contracts (December 31, 2018: $5.2 million), with the balance relating to designated hedges. The above short-term payables relating to interest rate/currency swap contracts at June 30, 2019, include $nil which relates to non-designated swap contracts (December 31, 2018: $12.0 million), with the balance relating to designated hedges. The above long-term payables relating to interest rate/currency swap contracts at June 30, 2019, include $1.9 million which relates to non-designated swap contracts (December 31, 2018: $0.1 million), with the balance relating to designated hedges.

In accordance with the accounting policy relating to interest rate and currency swaps described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018, and following the adoption of ASU 2017-12, where the Company has designated the swap as a hedge, changes in the fair values of interest rate swaps are recognized in other comprehensive income. Changes in the fair value of other swaps not designated as hedges are recognized in the Consolidated Statement of Operations.

The above fair values of financial assets and liabilities as at June 30, 2019, were measured as follows:



		Fair value measurements using,
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	Quoted Prices in Active Markets for identical Assets/Liabilities (Level 1)	Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)	Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Assets:
Available-for-sale debt securities	14,221	14,221
Equity securities	101,337	101,337
Interest rate/ currency swap contracts - long-term receivables	2,597		2,597
Total assets	118,155	115,558	2,597
Liabilities:
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2020	60,368	60,368
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2023	70,562	70,562
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2024	82,014	82,014
5.75% unsecured convertible bonds due 2021	213,822	213,822
4.875% unsecured convertible bonds due 2023	149,819	149,819
Interest rate/currency swap contracts - short-term payables	4,390		4,390
Interest rate/currency swap contracts - long-term payables	16,713		16,713
Total liabilities	597,688	576,585	21,103

ASC Topic 820 "Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures" ("ASC 820") emphasizes that fair value is a market-based measurement, not an entity-specific measurement, and should be determined based on the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. As a basis for considering market participant assumptions in fair value measurements, ASC 820 establishes a fair value hierarchy that distinguishes between market participant assumptions based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity (observable inputs that are classified within levels one and two of the hierarchy) and the reporting entity's own assumptions about market participant assumptions (unobservable inputs classified within level three of the hierarchy).

Level 1 inputs utilize unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access. Level 2 inputs are inputs other than quoted prices included in level one that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. Level 2 inputs may include quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets, as well as inputs that are observable for the asset or liability, other than quoted prices, such as interest rates, foreign exchange rates and yield curves that are observable at commonly quoted intervals. Level 3 inputs are unobservable inputs for the assets or liabilities, which typically are based on an entity's own assumptions, as there is little, if any, related market activity. In instances where the determination of the fair value measurement is based on inputs from different levels of the fair value hierarchy, the level in the fair value hierarchy within which the entire fair value measurement falls is based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety. The Company's assessment of the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgment, and considers factors specific to the asset or liability.

Investments in equity securities consist of (i) listed Frontline shares (ii) NorAm Drilling shares traded in the OTC market (iii) ADS shares traded on the Merkur Market whilst the investments in available-for-sale debt securities consist of listed and unlisted corporate bonds. The estimated fair value of the debt and equity securities consists of their aggregate market value as at the balance sheet date.

The estimated fair values for the floating rate NOK denominated bonds due 2020, 2023 and 2024, and the 5.75% and 4.875% unsecured convertible bonds due 2021 and 2023 are all based on their quoted market prices as at the balance sheet date.

The estimated fair value of interest rate and currency swap contracts is calculated using a well-established independent valuation technique applied to contracted cash flows and LIBOR or NIBOR interest rates as at June 30, 2019.

Concentrations of risk

There is a concentration of credit risk with respect to cash and cash equivalents to the extent that most of the amounts are carried with DNB Bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, ABN AMRO Bank, Nordea Bank, Bank of Valletta and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. However, the Company believes this risk is remote.

There is also a concentration of revenue risk with certain customers to whom the Company has chartered multiple vessels.

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, Frontline Shipping accounted for approximately 4% of our consolidated operating revenues (six months ended June 30, 2018: 10%; year ended December 31, 2018: 8%). Frontline Shipping is a 100% owned subsidiary of Frontline, but the performance under the leases is not guaranteed by Frontline following amendments to the leases agreed in 2015. There is no requirement for a minimum cash balance in Frontline Shipping, but in exchange for releasing the guarantee a dividend restriction was introduced on Frontline Shipping whereby it can only make distributions to its parent company if it can demonstrate it will have minimum free cash of $2 million per vessel both prior to and following (i) such distribution and (ii) the payment of the next hire due and any profit share accrued under the charters. Due to the depressed tanker market during a substantial part of 2018, there is a risk that Frontline Shipping may not have sufficient funds to pay the agreed charter hires. However, the performance under the fixed price agreements with Frontline Management whereby we pay management fees of $9,000 per day for each vessel to cover all operating costs including drydocking costs, is guaranteed by Frontline.

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company had eight Capesize dry bulk carriers leased to a fully guaranteed subsidiary of Golden Ocean Group Limited (“Golden Ocean”) which accounted for approximately 11% of our consolidated operating revenues (six months ended June 30, 2018: 14%; year ended December 31, 2018: 13%).

The Company also had 29 container vessels on long-term bareboat charters to MSC, which accounted for approximately 14% of our consolidated operating revenues in the six months ended June 30, 2019 (six months ended June 30, 2018: 11%; year ended December 31, 2018: 11%).

The Company had 10 container vessels on long-term time charters to Maersk Line A/S (“Maersk”) at June 30, 2019, which accounted for approximately 31% of our consolidated operating revenues in the six months ended June 30, 2019 (six months ended June 30, 2018: 26%; year ended December 31, 2018: 27%).

Following their acquisition in 2018, the Company has four container vessels on charter to Evergreen at June 30, 2019, which accounted for approximately 15% of our consolidated operating revenues in the six months ended June 30, 2019 (six months ended June 30, 2018: 3%; year ended December 31, 2018: 10%).

In addition, a significant portion of our net income is generated from our associated companies that lease rigs to subsidiaries of Seadrill. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, income from our associated companies accounted for approximately 26% of our consolidated net income (six months ended June 30, 2018: 36%; year ended, December 31, 2018: 39%).

The Company and three of the Company's subsidiaries, who own and lease the drilling rigs West Linus, West Hercules and West Taurus to subsidiaries of Seadrill, agreed to the Restructuring Plan announced by Seadrill in September 2017. As part of the agreement, SFL and its relevant subsidiaries have agreed to reduce the contractual charter hire payable by the relevant Seadrill subsidiaries by approximately 29% for a 5-year period with economic effect from January 1, 2018, with the reduced amounts added back in the period thereafter. The call options on behalf of the Seadrill subsidiaries under the relevant leases were also amended as part of the Restructuring Plan. The leases for West Hercules and West Taurus have been extended for a period of 13 months until December 2024, with amended purchase obligations at the new expiry of the charters. Concurrently, the banks that finance the three rigs have extended the loan period by approximately four years under each of the facilities, with reduced amortization in the extension period compared to the current amortization. The Restructuring Plan was implemented in July 2018, at which time Seadrill emerged from Chapter 11.

As discussed in Note 16: Commitments and contingent liabilities, the Company, at June 30, 2019, guaranteed a total of $266 million (December 31, 2018: $266 million) of the bank debt in these companies and had an outstanding receivable balance on loans granted by the Company to these associated companies totaling $319.0 million at June 30, 2019 (December 31, 2018: $342.0 million). The loans granted by the Company are considered not impaired at June 30, 2019, due to the fair value of the jack-up rig owned by SFL Linus and the ultra deepwater drilling rigs owned by SFL Deepwater and SFL Hercules exceeding the book values at June 30, 2019.


12.	SHARE CAPITAL, ADDITIONAL PAID-IN CAPITAL AND CONTRIBUTED SURPLUS

Authorized share capital is as follows:



(in thousands of $, except share data)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
200,000,000 common shares of $0.01 par value each (December 31, 2018: 200,000,000 shares of $0.01 par value each)	2,000	2,000

Issued and fully paid share capital is as follows:



(in thousands of $, except share data)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
119,375,525 common shares of $0.01 par value each (December 31, 2018: 119,373,064 shares of $0.01 par value each)	1,194	1,194

The Company’s common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company issued a total of 2,461 new shares of $0.01 each following the exercise of share options (2018: no new shares were issued). The weighted average exercise price was $12.30 per share.


13.	SHARE OPTION PLAN

In November 2006, the Board of Directors approved the Company's Share Option Scheme (the "Option Scheme"). The Option Scheme will expire in November 2026, following the renewal in November 2016. The terms and conditions remain unchanged from those originally adopted in November 2006 and permits the Board of Directors, at its discretion, to grant options to employees, officers and directors of the Company or its subsidiaries. The fair value cost of options granted is recognized in the statement of operations, and the corresponding amount is credited to additional paid-in capital. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, additional paid-in capital was credited with $0.4 million relating to the fair value of options granted in September 2017, April 2018, January 2019 and March 2019.

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, 13,334 options were exercised into 2,461 shares under the Option Scheme.

In January 2019, the Company awarded a total of 100,000 options to directors, officers and employees, pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme. The options have a five year term and a three year vesting period and the first options will be exercisable from January 2020 onwards. The initial strike price was $11.50 per share.

In March 2019, the Company also awarded a total of 425,000 options to officers and employees, pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme. The options have a five year term and a three year vesting period and the first options will be exercisable from March 2020 onwards. The initial strike price was $12.35 per share.

Total unrecognized compensation cost relating to the outstanding options under the Company's Option Scheme was $1.2 million as at June 30, 2019 (December 31, 2018: $0.3 million).


14.	CAPITAL LEASE OBLIGATIONS



(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
Current portion of obligations under capital leases	69,491	67,793
Obligations under capital leases - long-term portion	1,071,661	1,104,258
	1,141,152	1,172,051

In October 2015, the Company entered into agreements to charter in two 19,200 TEU newbuilding container vessels on a bareboat basis, each for a period of 15 years from delivery by the shipyard, and to charter out each vessel for the same 15-year period on a bareboat basis to MSC, an unrelated party. The first vessel was delivered in December 2016 and the second vessel was delivered in March 2017. Both vessels are accounted for as direct financing lease assets.

In December 2018, the Company entered into agreements to charter in a further two 19,400 TEU container vessels on a bareboat basis, each for a period of 15 years, and to charter out each vessel for the same 15-year period on a bareboat basis to MSC, an unrelated party. The vessels were delivered in December 2018 and both are accounted for as direct financing lease assets.

Also in 2018, the Company acquired four 13,800 TEU container vessels and three 10,600 TEU container vessels, which were subsequently refinanced with an Asian based financial institution by entering into separate sale and leaseback financing arrangements. The vessels are leased back for terms ranging from six to 11 years, with options to purchase the vessel after six years. Due to the terms of the sale and leaseback arrangements, each option is expected to be exercised on the sixth anniversary. These sale and leaseback transactions were accounted for as capital leases (Refer to Note 7: Vessels under capital lease, net).

The Company's future minimum lease obligations under the non-cancellable capital leases are as follows:



Year ending December 31,	(in thousands of $)
2019 (remaining six months)	67,552
2020	126,868
2021	126,726
2022	126,726
2023	126,726
Thereafter	976,801
Total lease obligations	1,551,399
Less: imputed interest payable	(410,247	)
Present value of obligations under capital lease	1,141,152
Less: current portion	(69,491	)
Obligations under capital lease - long-term portion	1,071,661

Interest incurred on capital leases in the six months ended June 30, 2019 was $31.5 million (six months ended June 30, 2018: $8.6 million; year ended December 31, 2018: $21.8 million).


15.	RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The Company has transactions with the following related parties, being companies in which our principal shareholder Hemen Holding and companies associated with Hemen have, or had, a significant direct or indirect interest:

– Frontline

– Frontline Shipping

– Seadrill

– Golden Ocean

– Seatankers Management Co. Ltd. (“Seatankers”)

– NorAm Drilling

– Golden Close Corp. Ltd. ("Golden Close")

– Sterna Finance Ltd. ("Sterna Finance")

– ADS

The Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets include the following amounts due from and to related parties and associated companies, excluding direct financing lease balances (see Note 8: Investments in direct financing and sales-type leases).



(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
Amounts due from:
Frontline Shipping	242	1,225
Frontline	9,332	8,430
SFL Linus	4,670	21,718
SFL Hercules	1,672	10,125
Seadrill	52	223
Other related parties	2	50
Total amount due from related parties	15,970	41,771
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term
SFL Deepwater	111,660	109,144
SFL Hercules	80,000	80,000
SFL Linus	121,000	121,000
Total loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term	312,660	310,144
Long-term receivables from related parties
Frontline	10,183	11,170
Frontline Shipping	4,446	4,446
Total long-term receivables from related parties	14,629	15,616
Amounts due to:
Frontline Shipping	287	1,125
Frontline	64	125
Golden Ocean	—	91
Seatankers	458	—
Other related parties	7	8
Total amount due to related parties	816	1,349

SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus are wholly-owned subsidiaries which are not fully consolidated but are accounted for under the equity method as at June 30, 2019 within the financial statements (see Note 9: Investments in associated companies). As described below in “Related party loans”, at June 30, 2019 the long-term loans from SFL to SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus, are presented net of their respective current accounts to the extent that it is an amount due to the associates.

Related party leasing and service contracts

As at June 30, 2019, three of the Company’s vessels leased to Frontline Shipping (December 31, 2018: three) are recorded as direct financing leases. At June 30, 2019, the balance of net investments in direct financing leases with Frontline Shipping was $111.3 million (December 31, 2018: $115.0 million), of which $8.1 million (December 31, 2018: $8.0 million) represents short-term maturities.

In addition, included under operating leases at June 30, 2019, there were eight Capesize dry bulk carriers leased to a fully guaranteed subsidiary of Golden Ocean (December 31, 2018: eight). At June 30, 2019, the net book value of assets leased under operating leases to Golden Ocean was $209.7 million (December 31, 2018: $217.7 million).

The charter agreements with Frontline Shipping include profit sharing arrangements, whereby the Company earns a 50% profit share on charter revenues earned by the vessels above the set base charter rates, calculated on a time charter equivalent basis and payable quarterly. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company recorded $1.5 million in profit share revenues (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0; year ended December 31, 2018: $1.5 million).

At June 30, 2019, the Company held 11 million ordinary shares in Frontline, representing approximately 6.43% of the issued share capital of Frontline (December 31, 2018: 11 million ordinary shares representing approximately 6.48%).

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company had eight dry bulk carriers operating on time charters to a subsidiary of Golden Ocean, which include profit sharing arrangements whereby the Company earns a 33% profit share on charter revenues earned by the vessels above certain threshold levels, calculated on a time charter equivalent basis and payable on a quarterly basis. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company earned $0 profit share revenue under this arrangement (six months ended June 30, 2018: $nil; year ended December 31, 2018: $0.2 million).

A summary of leasing revenues and repayments from Frontline Shipping and Golden Ocean is as follows:



	Six months ended		Year ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018	December 31, 2018
Operating lease income	25,752	26,498	53,258
Direct financing lease interest income	1,932	5,986	9,623
Finance lease service revenue	4,887	13,428	22,095
Direct financing lease repayments	3,981	10,247	16,802
Profit share	1,547	—	1,779

In addition to leasing revenues and repayments, the Company incurred the following fees with related parties:



	Six months ended		Year ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018	December 31, 2018
Frontline:
Vessel Management Fees	5,873	14,351	24,033
Commissions and Brokerage	167	132	287
Administration Services Fees	162	161	323
Golden Ocean:
Vessel Management Fees	10,136	10,136	20,440
Operating Management Fees	443	360	793
Seatankers:
Administration Services Fees	458	145	290
Office Facilities:
Seatankers Management Norway AS	52	55	108
Frontline Management AS	102	73	185
Frontline Corporate Services Ltd	120	61	166

Related party loans – associated companies

SFL has entered into agreements with SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus, granting them loans of $145 million, $145 million, and $125 million, respectively, at fixed interest rates. These loans are repayable in full by October 1, 2023, October 1, 2023, and June 30, 2029, respectively, or earlier if the companies sell their drilling units. The net outstanding loan balances as at June 30, 2019, were $111.7 million, $80.0 million, and $121.0 million for SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus, respectively.

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company received interest income on these loans of $2.5 million from SFL Deepwater (six months ended June 30, 2018: $2.5 million; year ended December 31, 2018: $5.1 million), $1.8 million from SFL Hercules (six months ended June 30, 2018: $1.8 million; year ended December 31, 2018: $3.6 million) and $2.7 million from SFL Linus (six months ended June 30, 2018: $2.7 million; year ended December 31, 2018: $5.4 million).

Long-term receivables from related parties

The Company received a loan note from Frontline Shipping as compensation for the early termination of the charter of Front Circassia in February 2018. The initial face value of the note was $8.9 million, however, SFL recorded the loan note at an initial fair market value of $4.4 million. The loan note bears interest at a rate of 7.50% and matures in December 2021. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company has received $0.4 million in interest income on the loan note (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0; year ended December 31, 2018: $0.5 million).

The Company received loan notes from Frontline as compensation for the early termination of the charter of Front Page, Front Stratus and Front Serenade in July, August and September 2018, respectively. The face value of the notes is $3.4 million each, and bears interest at a rate of 7.50%. The loan notes mature in between November 2024 and May 2025. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company has accrued $0.4 million in interest income on the loan notes (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0; year ended December 31, 2018: $0.3 million).

The Company received a loan note from Frontline as compensation for the early termination of the charter of Front Ariake in October 2018. The initial face value of the note was $3.4 million and bears interest at a rate of 7.5%. The note matures in December 2023. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company received interest income on this loan note of $0.1 million (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0; year ended December 31, 2018: $0.1 million).

Other related party transactions

In August 2018, the Company acquired 4,031,800 shares in ADS, a company trading on the Oslo Merkur Market. The shares were purchased for $10.0 million, and have a fair value of $9.2 million at June 30, 2019 (see Note 5: Investments in debt and equity securities). These shares, on which $0.2 million in dividend income was received in the six months ended June 30, 2019 (in the year ended December 31, 2018: $0), represent approximately 17% of the outstanding shares in the company.

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company received $0 in dividends on its holding of shares in Frontline (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0; year ended December 31, 2018: $0).

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company partially disposed of its investment in NorAm Drilling securities at par value of $0.3 million. The fair value of the remaining holding at June 30, 2019 was $4.9 million (December 31, 2018: $5.2 million). The Company recorded $0.2 million interest income on its holding of investments in secured notes issued by NorAm Drilling (six months ended June 30, 2018: $0.3 million; year ended December 31, 2018: $0.5 million).

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company divested its holding in Golden Close securities. The company received net proceeds of $45.6 million, resulting in an overall gain of $13.5 million. The Company earned $0.2 million interest income on its holding of investments in secured notes issued by Golden Close, up to the date of divestment, in the year ended December 31, 2018. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, the Company received $2.0 million final dividend distribution upon the liquidation of Golden Close.


16.	COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

Assets Pledged



(in millions of $)	June 30, 2019	December 31, 2018
Book value of consolidated assets pledged under ship mortgages	1,650	1,527

Of the above, $1,415.9 million relates to assets recorded as vessels and equipment (December 31, 2018: $1,424.4 million) and $234.4 million relates to assets accounted for as investments in direct financing leases (December 31, 2018: $103.1 million).

In addition, as at June 30, 2019 the Company had 11 vessels (December 31, 2018: 11 vessels) with obligations under capital lease with a total net book value of $1,305.5 million (December 31, 2018: $1,331.1 million). Of these, seven vessels with net book value of $732.5 million (December 31, 2018: $749.9 million) were recorded as vessels under capital lease and four vessels with net book value of $572.9 million (December 31, 2018: $581.2 million) were accounted for as investments in direct financing leases.

The Company and its equity-accounted subsidiaries have funded their acquisition of vessels, jack-up rigs and ultra-deepwater drilling units through a combination of equity, short-term debt and long-term debt. Providers of long-term loan facilities usually require that the loans be secured by mortgages against the assets being acquired. As at June 30, 2019, the Company ($1.5 billion) and its 100% equity-accounted subsidiaries ($645.9 million) had a combined outstanding principal indebtedness of $2.1 billion (December 31, 2018: $2.1 billion) under various credit facilities.

Other Contractual Commitments and Contingencies

The Company has arranged insurance for the legal liability risks for its shipping activities with Gard P. & I. (Bermuda) Ltd, Assuranceforeningen Skuld (Gjensidig), The Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association Limited, The Korea Shipowner’s Mutual Protection & Indemnity Association, The West of England Ship Owners Mutual Insurance Association (Luxembourg), North of England P&I Association Limited, The Standard Club Europe Ltd and The United Kingdom Mutual Steam Ship Assurance Association (Europe) Limited, all of which are mutual protection and indemnity associations. The Company is subject to calls payable to the associations based on the Company’s claims record in addition to the claims records of all other members of the associations. A contingent liability exists to the extent that the claims records of the members of the associations in the aggregate show significant deterioration, which may result in additional calls on the members.

SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company, which are accounted for using the equity method. Accordingly, their assets and liabilities are not consolidated in the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheet, but are presented on a net basis under “Investment in associated companies”. As of June 30, 2019, their combined borrowings amounted to $645.9 million (December 31, 2018: $655.2 million) and the Company guaranteed $266.1 million (December 31, 2018: $266.1 million) of this debt which is secured by first priority mortgages over the relevant rigs.

In addition, the Company has assigned all claims it may have under its secured loans to SFL Deepwater, SFL Hercules and SFL Linus, in favor of the lenders under the respective credit facilities. These loans had a net outstanding balance of $319.0 million at June 30, 2019 (December 31, 2018: $342.0 million) and are secured by second priority mortgages over each of the rigs, which have been assigned to the lenders under the respective credit facilities. The lenders under the respective credit facilities have also been granted a first priority pledge over all shares of the relevant asset owning subsidiaries.

As at June 30, 2019, the Company had committed $8.5 million towards the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems on four of its oil tankers (December 31, 2018: $3.4 million) and $43.1 million (December 31, 2018: $0) on seven container vessels ranging in size from 8,700 to 10,600 TEU. The charter agreements for four 8,700 TEU container vessels were amended in the six months ended June 30, 2019. The revised terms of the charter include a change in daily charter hire rate, an extension to the lease term and a profit split arrangement in exchange for the Company's commitment to install the exhaust gas cleaning systems on the vessels.

In addition, as at June 30, 2019, the Company had committed $0.9 million towards the installation of ballast water treatment systems on one Suezmax tanker and one Supramax dry bulk carrier. There were no other material contractual commitments at June 30, 2019.

The Company is routinely party both as plaintiff and defendant to lawsuits in various jurisdictions under charter hire obligations arising from the operation of its vessels in the ordinary course of business. The Company believes that the resolution of such claims will not have a material adverse effect on its results of operations or financial position. The Company has not recognized any contingent gains or losses arising from the pending results of any such lawsuits.


17.	CONSOLIDATED VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES

As at June 30, 2019, the Company’s consolidated financial statements included 34 variable interest entities, all of which are wholly-owned subsidiaries. These subsidiaries own vessels with existing charters during which related and third parties have fixed price options to purchase the respective vessels, at dates varying from April 2019 to November 2033. It has been determined that the Company is the primary beneficiary of these entities, as none of the purchase options are deemed to be at bargain prices and none of the charters include sales options.

At June 30, 2019, 18 of the consolidated variable interest entities have a vessel which is accounted for as a direct financing lease asset. At June 30, 2019, the vessels had a carrying value of $393.3 million, unearned lease income of $206.2 million and estimated residual value of $126.2 million. The outstanding loan balances in 16 of these entities amounted to a total of $43.9 million, of which the short-term portion was $6.4 million as at June 30, 2019. Also, two of the vessels that are included in the direct financing lease assets had outstanding obligations under capital lease which amounted to a total of $270.9 million, of which the short-term portion was $13.7 million, as at June 30, 2019.

At June 30, 2019, 13 fully consolidated variable interest entities each own vessels which are accounted for as operating lease assets and had a total net book value of $276.0 million. The outstanding loan balances in these entities amounted to a total of $130.2 million, of which the short-term portion was $13.9 million as at June 30, 2019.

The other three fully consolidated variable interest entities each own vessels which are accounted for as vessels under capital lease and had a total net book value of $304.0 million as at June 30, 2019. The outstanding obligations under capital lease for these entities amounted to a total of $260.1 million, of which the short-term portion was $18.6 million as at June 30, 2019.


18.	SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

In July 2019, the Company acquired three feeder size container vessels ranging in size from 2,400-4,400 TEU. Upon delivery, the vessels immediately commenced six year fixed rate bareboat charters to an unrelated third party.

In August 2019, the Company issued an additional NOK100million under its existing senior unsecured bonds due September 2023, equivalent to approximately $11 million, as a tap issue. The additional bonds bear the same interest coupon as the existing bonds and were priced at 101.625% of par value. The proceeds from the tap issue has been used for general corporate purposes.

In September 2019, the Company announced an agreement entered into to acquire three 300,000 dwt VLCCs. One of these vessels has been delivered to the Company and the remaining vessels are currently under construction. Upon delivery, the vessels will commence their respective five year bareboat charter to an unrelated third party.

In September 2019, an agreement was entered into with a charterer relating to the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems on three 10,600 TEU container vessels on charter to them. These installations will be financed by the Company and recovered through increased charterhire. This will be carried out during the vessels’ next scheduled dry dockings and liability for these installations will remain with the charterer.

In September 2019, stock options were exercised pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme. As a result, 15,785 new common shares will be issued.

On August 20, 2019, the Board of Directors of the Company declared a dividend of $0.35 per share, which was paid in cash on September 23, 2019.

SFL CORPORATION LTD

As used herein, “we,” “us,” “our” and “the Company” all refer to SFL Corporation Ltd and its subsidiaries. This management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations should be read together with the discussion included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

for the six months ended June 30, 2019

General

We are SFL Corporation Ltd. (formerly Ship Finance International Limited), a Bermuda-based company incorporated in Bermuda on October 10, 2003, as a Bermuda exempted company under the Bermuda Companies Law of 1981 (Company No. EC-34296). We are engaged primarily in the ownership and operation of vessels and offshore related assets, and also involved in the charter, purchase and sale of assets. Our registered and principal executive offices are located at Par-la-Ville Place, 14 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton, HM 08, Bermuda, and our telephone number is +1 (441) 295-9500.

We operate through subsidiaries located in Bermuda, Cyprus, Malta, Liberia, Norway, the United Kingdom and the Marshall Islands.

We are an international ship owning and chartering company with a large and diverse asset base across the maritime and offshore industries. As at September 27, 2019, our assets consist of five crude oil tankers, 22 dry bulk carriers, 48 container vessels (including 11 capital lease vessels), two car carriers, one jack-up drilling rigs, two ultra-deepwater drilling units, five offshore support vessels, two chemical tankers and two oil product tankers. In addition, in September, the Company agreed to acquire three VLCCs, currently under construction.

As at September 27, 2019, our customers included Frontline Shipping Limited (“Frontline Shipping”), Seadrill Limited (“Seadrill”), Golden Ocean Group Limited (“Golden Ocean”), Deep Sea Supply Shipowning II AS (the “Solstad Charterer”), Sinochem Shipping Co., Ltd. (“Sinochem”), Heung-A Shipping Co., Ltd. (“Heung-A”), Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd. (“Hyundai Glovis”), Sinotrans Shipping Limited (“Sinotrans”), Maersk Line A/S (“Maersk”), MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. and its affiliate Conglomerate Shipping Ltd. (“MSC”), Phillips 66 Company (“Phillips 66”), and Evergreen Marine Corporation (Taiwan) Ltd. and its affiliate Evergreen Marine (Singapore) Pte Ltd. (“Evergreen”), or subsidiaries thereof.

Our primary objective is to continue to grow our business through accretive acquisitions across a diverse range of marine and offshore asset classes. In doing so, our strategy is to generate stable and increasing cash flows by chartering our assets primarily

under medium to long-term bareboat or time charters.

Recent and Other Developments

In February 2019, the Company exercised the options to extend the charter period for four 4,100 TEU container vessels, MSC Katya R., MSC Julia R., MSC Vaishnavi R. and MSC Arushi R. on charter to MSC by a period of two years.

In February 2019, the Company extended the bareboat charter agreements with MSC for two 5,800 TEU container vessels, MSC Margarita and MSC Vidhi, which were previously reported under vessels and equipment and were re-classified to sales-type leases as a result of amendments made to the charter contract. Included in the amendments to the contracts, the charterer has a fixed price purchase obligation at the expiry of the additional five year charter period.

In April 2019, the two 6,500 CEU car carriers, SFL Conductor and Glovis Composer, were re-chartered for 12 months to Hyundai Glovis at a revised charter hire.

In April 2019, the Company entered into a Standstill Agreement (following the previously implemented Restructuring Agreement) with Solship. Per the Standstill Agreement, and subequent amendments made in June, 2019, 100% of charter hire for vessels on charter to Solship is deferred until October 31, 2019.

In May 2019, the Company issued NOK700 million five-year senior unsecured bonds. The bonds bear interest at NIBOR plus a margin. The proceeds from the bond issue will be used for general corporate purposes.

In May 2019, the Company agreed to extend the charters on the four 8,700 TEU container vessels to Maersk Line. The initial seven-year charters were extended by an additional three year period at a revised charter hire. As part of the charter agreement the Company agreed to finance the scrubbers to be installed on these vessels for the charterer.

In August 2019, the Company issued an additional NOK100million under its existing senior unsecured bonds due September 2023, equivalent to approximately $11million, as a tap issue. The additional bonds bear the same interest coupon as the existing bonds and were priced at 101.625% of par value. The proceeds from the tap issue has been used for general corporate purposes.

On August 20, 2019, the Board of Directors of the Company declared a dividend of $0.35 per share, which was paid in cash on September 23, 2019.

In August 2019, an agreement was entered into with a charterer relating to the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems on three 10,600 TEU container vessels on charter to them. These installations will be financed by the Company and recovered through increased charterhire. This will be carried out during the vessels’ next scheduled dry dockings and liability for these installations will remain with the charterer.

In September 2019, stock options were exercised pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme. As a result, 15,785 new common shares will be issued.

Operating Results



	Six months ended		Six months ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019		June 30, 2018
Total operating revenues	227,445		189,144
(Loss)/gain on sale of assets and termination of charters, net	—		(1,623	)
Total operating expenses	(130,065	)	(134,938	)
Net operating income	97,380		52,583
Interest income	10,290		8,176
Interest expense	(72,165	)	(48,805	)
Other non-operating items, net	17,217		21,016
Equity in earnings of associated companies	8,991		7,451
Net income	61,713		40,421

Net operating income for the six months ended June 30, 2019, was $97.4 million, compared with $52.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018. The increase was principally due to the acquisition of four 13,800 TEU container vessels, 15 feeder size vessels in May 2018, three 10,600 TEU and two 19,200 TEU container vessels in the second half of 2018. This was partially offset by the sale of six VLCCs on charter to Frontline Shipping throughout 2018 (including the impairment of three of those VLCCs), and the loss on sale recorded as a result of the sale of one of these vessels in the first quarter of 2018. The overall net income for the period increased by $21.3 million compared with the same period in 2018 mainly due to the increase in net operating income offset by higher interest expense and lower net gains included in other non-operating items.

Two ultra-deepwater drilling units and one harsh environment jack-up drilling rig were accounted for under the equity method during the six months ended June 30, 2019 and the six months ended June 30, 2018. The net income of the wholly-owned subsidiaries owning these assets are included under “equity in earnings of associated companies”, where they are reported net of operating and non-operating expenses.

Total operating revenues

Total operating revenues increased by 20% in the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared with the same period in the previous year.



	Six months ended	Six months ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018
Direct financing and sales-type lease interest income	28,416	19,891
Finance lease service revenues	4,887	13,428
Profit sharing revenues	1,547	—
Time charter revenues	168,977	126,997
Bareboat charter revenues	12,494	18,850
Voyage charter revenues	9,428	9,381
Other operating income	1,696	597
Total operating revenues	227,445	189,144

Direct financing and sales type lease interest income

Direct financing and sales-type lease interest income arises on our crude oil tankers on charter to Frontline Shipping, one offshore support vessel on charter to the Solstad Charterer and 22 container vessels on long term charters to MSC. In general, direct financing and sales-type lease interest income reduces over the terms of our leases; progressively, a lesser proportion of the lease rental payment is allocated to interest income and a greater proportion is treated as repayment of investment in the lease. The 43% increase in direct finance lease interest income in the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared with the same period in 2018 was mainly a result of the acquisition of 15 container vessels on charter to MSC in April 2018, the sale and lease back of two container vessels to MSC, and the reclassification of two container vessels from operating lease to capital lease, also on charter to MSC. This increase in direct finance lease interest income was partially offset by the sale of six VLCCs from the fleet of crude oil tankers on charter to Frontline Shipping throughout 2018.

Finance lease service revenues

The vessels chartered on direct financing leases to Frontline Shipping are leased on time charter terms, whereby we are responsible for the management and operation of such vessels. This has been effected by entering into fixed price agreements with Frontline Management (Bermuda) Ltd. (“Frontline Management”), a subsidiary of Frontline, whereby we pay them management fees of $9,000 per day for each vessel chartered to Frontline Shipping. Accordingly, $9,000 per day is allocated from each time charter payment received from Frontline Shipping to cover lease executory costs, and this is classified as "finance lease service revenue". If any vessel chartered on direct financing leases to Frontline Shipping is sub-chartered on a bareboat basis, then the charter payments for that vessel are reduced by $9,000 per day for the duration of the bareboat sub-charter. The 64% decrease in finance lease service revenues in the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the prior six months ended June 30, 2018 is mainly due to the sale of six tankers in 2018, described above, from the fleet of crude oil tankers on charter to Frontline Shipping.

Profit share revenues

We recorded $1.5 million profit share revenue in the six months ended June 30, 2019 from the profit sharing arrangement with Frontline Shipping whereby the Company is entitled to a 50% profit share above the base charter rates, calculated and paid on a quarterly basis. This is compared to profit share revenue of $nil received from Frontline Shipping for the six months ended June 30, 2018.

We also have a profit share arrangement related to the eight Capesize dry bulk vessels on charter to a fully guaranteed subsidiary of Golden Ocean, whereby the Company is entitled to a 33% profit share above certain threshold levels, calculated and paid on a quarterly basis. No profit share revenue was earned by these vessels in the six months ended June 30, 2019 ($nil in the six months ended June 30, 2018).

We also have a profit share arrangement relating to the five offshore supply vessels on charter to the Solstad Charterer following the amendments agreed in July 2016, whereby the Company is entitled to a 50% profit share above the base charter rates, calculated and paid on a quarterly basis on a vessel by vessel basis. No profit share revenue was earned by the vessels in the six months ended June 30, 2019 or in the six months ended June 30, 2018.

Time charter revenues

During the six months ended June 30, 2019, time charter revenues were earned by 14 container vessels, two car carriers, 22 dry bulk carriers, one Suezmax tanker and two oil product tankers. The 33% increase in time charter revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018, was mainly due to the addition of three 10,600 TEU container vessels in September and October 2018 and four 13,800 TEU container vessels in May 2018. These increases to time charter revenues were partly offset by the sale of SFL Avon in May 2018 and lower income earned from SFL Yukon and SFL Sara, who completed long term time charters at the end of 2018 and early 2019 and are now trading in a pool.

Bareboat charter revenues

Bareboat charter revenues are earned by our vessels and rigs which are leased under operating leases on a bareboat basis. In the six month periods ended June 30, 2018, and June 30, 2019, these consisted of four offshore support vessels, two chemical tankers, two 1,700 TEU container vessels, two 5,800 TEU container vessels and seven 4,100 TEU container vessels. June 30, 2018 bareboat revenue includes revenue from one jack-up drilling rig. The 34% decrease in bareboat charter revenues was mainly due to lower revenues recorded for the four offshore support vessels. These vessels recorded bareboat revenues of $0.7 million in the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to $1.8 million in the same period in 2018. During July 2018, the Company and other financial creditors entered into a restructuring agreement with a subsidiary of Solstad with respect to the four offshore vessels as well as one offshore vessel leased under a finance lease. Per the restructuring agreement, 50% of the agreed charter hire for the two vessels Sea Cheetah and Sea Jaguar will be received from the effective date at the end of August 2018 until the end of 2019. All other payments under the respective charters, including the remaining 50% on Sea Cheetah and Sea Jaguar, will be deferred until the end of 2019. In April 2019, Solship announced that a Standstill Agreement had been entered into with, amongst others, the Company whereby 100% of charter hire for vessels on charter to Solship is deferred. The Standstill Agreement is effective until October 2019.

The decrease in bareboat charter revenue was also as a result of the sale of jack-up drilling rig Soehanah on December 31, 2018. The rig earned $1.8 million in bareboat revenue in the six months ended June 30, 2018.

Voyage charter revenues

The 1% increase in voyage charter revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to the six months ended June 30, 2018 was mainly attributable to the trading patterns of the two Suezmax tankers trading in a pool together with two tankers owned by Frontline. During the six months ended June 30, 2019, there was a decrease in voyage charter revenue from Everbright, which returned to time chartering during the six months ended June 30, 2019. The Everbright decrease offsets the increase in voyage charter income from Glorycrown and the increase resulting from the trading patterns of certain Handysize dry bulk carriers which sometimes charter on a voyage-by-voyage basis.

Cash flows arising from direct financing and sales-type leases

The following table sets forth our cash flows from the direct financing and sales-type leases with Frontline Shipping, the Solstad Charterer and MSC and shows how they were accounted for:



	Six months ended	Six months ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018
Charter hire payments accounted for as:
Direct financing and sales-type lease interest income	28,416	19,891
Finance lease service revenues	4,887	13,428
Direct financing and sales-type lease repayments	20,373	17,064
Total direct financing and sales-type lease payments received	53,676	50,383

Gain on sale of assets and termination of charters

No vessels were sold or charters were terminated in the six months ended June 30, 2019.

In the six months ended June 30, 2018, a net loss of $1.6 million was recorded, arising from the disposal of one crude oil tanker, Front Circassia in February 2018 and one container vessel, SFL Avon, in April 2018 (see Note 2: Gain on sale of assets and termination of charters).

Operating expenses



	Six months ended	Six months ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018
Vessel operating expenses	65,512	61,558
Depreciation	58,648	46,444
Administrative expenses	5,905	5,157
Vessel impairment charge	—	21,779
Total operating expenses	130,065	134,938

Vessel operating expenses consist of payments to Frontline Management of $9,000 per day for each vessel chartered to Frontline Shipping and also payments to Golden Ocean Group Management (Bermuda) Ltd. (“Golden Ocean Management”) of $7,000 per day for each vessel chartered to a subsidiary of Golden Ocean, in accordance with the vessel management agreements. Vessel operating expenses also consist of the day to day running costs as well as occasional voyage expenses for the container vessels, dry bulk carriers, car carriers and oil product tankers operated on a time charter basis and managed by related and unrelated parties, and also voyage expenses from our two Suezmax tankers trading in a pool together with two tankers owned by Frontline and certain Handysize dry bulk carriers operating in the spot market during the six months ended June 30, 2019.

Vessel operating expenses increased by $4.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared with the same period in 2018. The increase is mainly due to the addition of three 10,600 TEU container vessels in September and October 2018 and four 13,800 TEU container vessels acquired in May 2018. The increases in vessel operating expenses as the result of acquisitions made is partly offset by the decrease in vessel management expenses for vessels chartered to Frontline from the sale of six VLCCs in 2018.

Depreciation expenses relate to the vessels on charters accounted for as operating leases and on voyage charters. The increase in depreciation of $12.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, was mainly due to the addition of the four 13,800 TEU container vessels in May 2018 and the addition of three 10,600 TEU container vessels in September and October 2018. The increase was partially offset by a decrease in depreciation for the jack-up drilling rig Soehanah, following the sale of Rig Finance Ltd, the reclassification of two vessels on charter to MSC to Finance Lease assets and the sale of SFL Avon in May 2018.

No impairment charges were recorded against any vessels in the six months ended June 30, 2019. During 2018, a review of the carrying value of long-lived assets indicated that the carrying values of three of our VLCCs were other than temporarily impaired thus an impairment charge of $21.8 million was recorded against their carrying values in the six months ended June 30, 2018.

The 15% increase in administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, is mainly due to increased staff costs. Increases in office costs and administrative service fees have also contributed to the higher administrative expenses in the six months ended June 30, 2019.

Interest income

Total interest income increased by $2.1 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, mainly due to interest income on loan notes from Frontline and Frontline Shipping, as a result of the termination of charters from five VLCCs sold in 2018; as well as increased interest income from bank and short term deposits.

Interest expense



	Six months ended	Six months ended
(in thousands of $)	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2018
Interest on US$ floating rate loans	21,369	20,595
Interest on NOK900 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2019	906	2,418
Interest on NOK500 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2020	1,759	1,792
Interest on NOK600 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023	2,123	—
Interest on NOK700 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2024	362	—
Interest on 3.25% senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2018	—	171
Interest on 5.75% senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2021	6,102	6,469
Interest on 4.875% senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2023	3,616	1,489
Interest on $320 million unsecured intermediary loan facility	—	1,422
Swap interest	247	1,835
Interest on capital lease obligations	31,497	8,626
Amortization of deferred charges	4,184	3,988
Total interest expense	72,165	48,805

At June 30, 2019, the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, had total debt principal outstanding of $1.5 billion (June 30, 2018: $1.9 billion), $58.6 million (NOK500 million) outstanding principal amount of NOK floating rate bonds due 2020 (June 30, 2018: $61.3 million, NOK500 million), $70.3 million (NOK600 million) outstanding principal amount of NOK floating rate bonds due 2023 (June 30, 2018: $nil, NOKnil), $82.0 million (NOK700 million) outstanding principal amount of NOK floating rate bonds due 2024 (June 30, 2018: $nil, NOKnil), $212.2 million outstanding principal amount of 5.75% convertible bonds due 2021 (June 30, 2018: $225.0 million), $148.3 million outstanding principal amount of 4.875% convertible bonds due 2023 (June 30, 2018: $164.0 million) and $0.9 billion under floating rate secured long term credit facilities (June 30, 2018: $1.1 billion,).

NOK floating rate bonds due 2019 were fully repaid as at June 30, 2019 (June 30, 2018: $92.9 million, NOK 758 million).

The average three-month LIBOR was 2.59% in the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to an average of 2.13% in the six months ended June 30, 2018. The decrease in interest expense associated with our floating rate debt for the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, is mainly due to loans of five vessels maturing in 2019 that were refinanced at lower margins. This was partly offset by the increased LIBOR rate in the period.

The decrease in interest expense on the NOK900 million floating rate bonds due 2019 is due to their redemption in March 2019. The increase in interest expense on the NOK600 million floating rate bonds due 2023 is due to their issuance in September 2018. The increase in interest expense on the NOK700 million floating rate bonds due 2024 is due to their issuance in June 2019. The increase in interest expense on the 4.875% convertible bonds is due to their issuance in April 2018.

At June 30, 2019, the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries were party to interest rate swap contracts, which effectively fix our interest rates on $0.9 billion of floating rate debt at a weighted average rate excluding margin of 2.69% per annum (June 30, 2018: $1.0 billion of floating rate debt fixed at a weighted average rate excluding margin of 2.87% per annum).

The above capital lease interest expense represents the interest portion of our capital lease obligations from chartering-in vessels from their third party owners. In October 2015, we entered into agreements to charter in two 19,200 TEU container vessels on a bareboat basis, each for a period of 15 years from delivery by the shipyard, and to charter out each vessel for the same 15 year period. The first of these vessels was delivered in December 2016 and the second one was delivered in March 2017. These vessels are accounted for as direct financing lease assets. In the second half of 2018, the Company agreed with various financial institutions to refinance the outstanding balance of loans relating four 13,800 TEU container vessels and three 10,600 TEU container vessels, by entering into sale and leaseback transactions with an option to purchase the vessels after six years. In December 2018, the Company financed the acquisition of two 19,400 TEU container vessels using similar financial institutions and sale and lease back arrangements. The sale and leaseback transactions were accounted for as capital leases, accounting for the increase in interest in capital lease obligations for the six months ended June 30, 2019 when compared to the same period in 2018.

Other non-operating items

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, other non-operating items amounted to a net gain of $17.2 million, compared to a gain of $21.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018. The net gain of $17.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 mainly results from dividend income received from shares held in related parties of $2.2 million, gains on purchases of bonds and debt extinguishment of $1.8 million and a gain of $27.3 million from the mark-to-market of equity investments. This is partly offset by an impairment of $8.2 million on the note receivable from Solship as a result of the termination of the Sea Bear charter in 2016, as well as a loss of $6.3 million from negative mark-to-market adjustments to derivatives.

The net gain of $21.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018 mainly results from a gain of $6.5 million from positive mark-to-market adjustments to derivatives as well as a gain of $15.3 million from the mark-to-market of equity investments.

As reported above, certain assets were accounted for under the equity method in 2019 and 2018. Their non-operating expenses, including net interest expenses, are not included above, but are reflected in “equity in earnings of associated companies” - see below.

Equity in earnings of associated companies

In the six month periods ended June 30, 2018, and June 30, 2019, the Company had three wholly-owned subsidiaries which were accounted for under the equity method, as discussed in the Consolidated Financial Statements included herein (Note 9: Investments in associated companies). The total equity in earnings of associated companies in the six months ended June 30, 2019 was $1.5 million higher than in the comparative period in 2018 mainly due to the increase in finance lease interest income recorded by the harsh environment jack-up drilling rig West Linus as a result of interest rate adjustments per the charter contract. Amendments were made to the charter contracts for the rigs owned by these subsidiaries in connection with the Seadrill Restructuring Plan. Under the terms of the Restructuring Plan, the Company agreed to reduce the contractual charter hire for each of the three drilling units on charter to the Seadrill Charterers by approximately 29% for a period of five years with economic effect from January 2018, with the reduced amounts added back in the period thereafter. The term of the charters for West Hercules and West Taurus was also extended by 13 months until December 2024. In addition, the purchase obligations in the case of West Hercules and West Taurus and the put option in the case of West Linus at expiry of the charters were amended.

Seasonality

Most of our vessels are chartered at fixed rates on a long-term basis and seasonal factors do not have a significant direct effect on our business. Our tankers on charter to Frontline Shipping, our dry bulk carriers on charter to a subsidiary of Golden Ocean and our offshore support vessels on charter to the Solstad Charterer are subject to profit sharing agreements and to the extent that seasonal factors affect the profits of the charterers of these vessels we will also be affected. We also have nine drybulk carriers, two car carriers and two Suezmax tankers in the spot or short term time charter market, and the effects of seasonality may affect the earnings of these vessels.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

At June 30, 2019, we had total cash and cash equivalents of $212.4 million and investments in equity securities and corporate bonds of $115.6 million.

In the six months ended June 30, 2019, we generated cash of $93.6 million net from operations, generated $35.1 million net in investing activities and used $128.7 million net from financing activities.

Cash flows provided by operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2019 decreased to $93.6 million, from $94.1 million for the same period in 2018, mainly due the timing of charter hire and trade and other receivables.

Investing activities generated cash of $35.1 million in the six months ended June 30, 2019, compared with $439.7 million utilised in the same period in 2018. The cash generated in investing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to cash utilised in 2018 is mainly due to an increase in cash generated of $3.3 million from repayments in investments in finance leases and a decrease in the outflow of cash from $511.0 million in 2018 to $1.1 million used to fund the purchase of vessels and capital improvements. This is partly offset by an outflow of cash of $1.1 million for additions to finance leases compared to $nil in the same period in 2018, and lower cash proceeds from sale of vessels and termination of charters from $30.2 million for the six months ended June 30, 2018 to $nil for the six months ended June 30, 2019. Cash outflows in the six months ended June 30, 2019 are also attributable to a decrease in amounts received from associated companies of $1.1 million compared to the same period in 2018, and cash outflows $6.1 million for other investments for the six months ended June 30, 2019.

Net cash utilised from financing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2019 was $128.7 million, compared to $337.3 million net cash generated in the same period in 2018. The $466.0 million difference in net cash from financing activities between the two periods was primarily due to the increase in cash outflows of $17.5 million and $41.8 million as a result of the final settlement of the NOK900million bond due 2019 and the related swaps. Cash utilised in the repayment of lease obligation liabilities increased by $27.2 million when compared to same period in 2018 due to capital lease financing arrangements entered into in the second half of 2018 for four 13,800 TEU container vessels, three 10,600 TEU container vessels and two 19,400 TEU container vessels. Cash utilised also increased as a result of an increase of $46.5 million utilised to prepay and repay long term debt, an increase in dividend payments by $1.4 million and a decrease in cash proceeds from debt issuances and drawdowns of $335.7 million. This is partly offset by a $1.7 million increase in discounts received on repurchased debt and a decrease in debt issuance fees of $2.4 million in the six months ended June 30, 2019 from the six months ended June 30, 2018.

In addition to bank financing, the Company continually monitors equity and debt capital market conditions and may raise additional capital through the issuance of equity or debt securities from time to time.

The following table summarizes our consolidated borrowings at June 30, 2019.



	As at June 30, 2019
(in millions of $)	Outstanding balance	Net amount available to draw
Loan facilities secured with mortgages on vessels and rigs including newbuildings	913.2	—
Unsecured borrowings:
5.75% senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2021	212.2	—
NOK500 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2020	58.6	—
4.875% senior unsecured convertible notes due 2023	148.3	—
NOK600 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023	70.3	—
NOK700 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2024	82.0	—
Total	1,484.6	—

In addition to the above, our equity accounted subsidiaries had total debt principal outstanding of $0.6 billion as at June 30, 2019. Also, the loan facilities of the equity accounted subsidiaries originally contained financial covenants, with which both SFL and Seadrill must comply. As part of the Restructuring Plan, the financial covenants on Seadrill were replaced by financial covenants on a newly established subsidiary of Seadrill, Seadrill Rig Holding Company Limited, who also acts as guarantor for the obligations under the leases for the three drilling units, on a subordinated basis to the senior secured lenders in Seadrill and new secured notes.

Security and Collateral

The main security provided under the secured credit facilities include (i) guarantees from subsidiaries, as well as instances where the Company guarantees all or part of the loans, (ii) a first priority pledge over all shares of the relevant asset owning subsidiaries and (iii) a first priority mortgage over the relevant collateral assets which includes substantially all of the vessels and the drilling units that are currently owned by the Company as at September 27, 2019, excluding six container vessels, one VLCC and two chemical tankers.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Matters discussed herein may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement pursuant to this safe harbor legislation. This report and any other written or oral statements made by the Company or on its behalf may include forward-looking statements, which reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events and financial performance. The words “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,” “may,” “should,” “expect,” “pending” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements herein are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including, without limitation, management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Company’s records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

Such statements reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or intended. The Company is making investors aware that such forward-looking statements, because they relate to future events, are by their very nature subject to many important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated. In addition to these important factors and matters discussed elsewhere herein, important factors that, in the Company’s view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:


▪	the strength of world economies;


▪	the Company’s ability to generate cash to service its indebtedness;


▪	the Company’s ability to continue to satisfy its financial and other covenants, or obtain waivers relating to such covenants from its lenders under its credit facilities;


▪	the Company’s ability to obtain financing in the future to fund capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate activities;


▪	the Company’s counterparties’ ability or willingness to honor their obligations under agreements with it;


▪	fluctuations in currencies and interest rates;


▪	general market conditions including fluctuations in charter hire rates and vessel values;


▪	changes in supply and generally the number, size and form of providers of goods and services in the markets in which the Company operates;


▪	changes in demand in the markets in which the Company operates;


▪	changes in demand resulting from changes in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage;


▪	developments regarding the technologies relating to oil exploration;


▪	changes in market demand in countries which import commodities and finished goods and changes in the amount and location of the production of those commodities and finished goods;


▪	increased inspection procedures and more restrictive import and export controls;


▪	the imposition of sanctions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the U.S. Treasury or pursuant to other applicable laws or regulations against the Company or any of its subsidiaries;


▪	changes in the Company’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs;


▪	performance of the Company’s charterers and other counterparties with whom the Company deals;


▪	timely delivery of vessels under construction within the contracted price;


▪	changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities;


▪	potential liability from pending or future litigation;


▪	general domestic and international political conditions;


▪	potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents; and


▪	piracy or political events; and


▪	other important factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018, as well as those described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Commission.

This report may contain assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs about future events. These statements are intended as forward-looking statements. The Company may also from time to time make forward-looking statements in other documents and reports that are filed with or submitted to the Commission, in other information sent to the Company’s security holders, and in other written materials. The Company also cautions that assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs about future events may and often do vary from actual results and the differences can be material. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement contained in this report, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.



	SFL CORPORATION LTD

Date: September 27, 2019



	By:	/s/ Aksel C. Olesen
	Name: Aksel C. Olesen
	Principal Financial Officer

DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION	6 Months Ended
DOCUMENT AND ENTITY INFORMATION	Jun. 30, 2019
Document and Entity Information [Abstract]
Entity Registrant Name	SFL Corporation Ltd
Entity Central Index Key	0001289877
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Document Type	6-K
Document Period End Date	Jun. 30, 2019
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2019
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q2
Amendment Flag	false

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Parenthetical) - $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Stockholders' equity
Share capital, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Share capital, shares authorized (in shares)	200,000,000	200,000,000
Share capital, shares issued (in shares)	119,375,525	119,373,064
Share capital, shares outstanding (in shares)	119,375,525	119,373,064	119,373,064	110,930,873

INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA	6 Months Ended
INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA	Jun. 30, 2019
INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA [Abstract]
INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA	INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA The unaudited condensed interim financial statements of SFL Corporation Ltd (formerly Ship Finance International Limited) (“SFL” or the “Company”) have been prepared on the same basis as the Company’s audited financial statements and, in the opinion of management, include all material adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments considered necessary in order to make the interim financial statements not misleading, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”). The accompanying unaudited condensed interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements and notes included in the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018. The results of operations for the interim period ended June 30, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results for the entire year ending December 31, 2019. Basis of accounting The condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with US GAAP. The condensed consolidated financial statements include the assets and liabilities and results of operations of the Company and its subsidiaries including variable interest entities in which SFL is deemed to be the primary beneficiary. All inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated on consolidation. The condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with the accounting policies described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018. Recently Issued Accounting Standards In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13 "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses" to introduce new guidance for the accounting for credit losses on instruments within its scope. ASU 2016-13 requires among other things, the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable supportable forecasts. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. In addition, ASU 2016-13 amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. ASU 2016-13 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2016-13 on its consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13 "Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement". ASU 2018-13 includes certain removals, modifications and additions to the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is permitted to early adopt any removed or modified disclosures upon issuance of ASU 2018-13 and delay adoption of the additional disclosures until their effective date. The impact on the consolidated financial statements of the Company will depend on the facts and circumstances of any specific future transactions. In October 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-16 "Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Inclusion of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) Overnight Index Swap (OIS) Rate as a Benchmark Interest Rate for Hedge Accounting Purposes." In the United States, eligible benchmark interest rates under Topic 815 are interest rates on direct Treasury obligations of the U.S. government (UST), the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) swap rate, and the Overnight Index Swap (OIS) Rate based on the Federal Funds Effective Rate. When the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, in August 2017, it introduced the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Municipal Swap Rate as the fourth permissible U.S. benchmark rate. The new ASU adds the OIS rate based on SOFR as a U.S. benchmark interest rate to facilitate the LIBOR to SOFR transition and provide sufficient lead time for entities to prepare for changes to interest rate risk hedging strategies for both risk management and hedge accounting purposes. ASU 2018-16 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2018-16 on the consolidated financial statements. In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-18 "Collaborative Arrangements (Topic 808): Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606", which defines a collaborative arrangement as a contractual arrangement under which two or more parties actively participate in a joint operating activity and are exposed to significant risks and rewards that depend on the activity’s commercial success. The ASU provides guidance on how to assess whether certain transactions between collaborative arrangement participants should be accounted for within the revenue recognition standard. The ASU also provides more comparability in the presentation of revenue for certain transactions between collaborative arrangement participants. It accomplishes this by allowing organizations to only present units of account in collaborative arrangements that are within the scope of the revenue recognition standard together with revenue accounted for under the revenue recognition standard. The parts of the collaborative arrangement that are not in the scope of the revenue recognition standard should be presented separately from revenue accounted for under the revenue recognition standard. ASU 2018-18 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company does not expect that the adoption of ASU 2018-18 will have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements. Also in November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-19 "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses" to provide new guidance to mitigate the transition complexity by requiring entities other than public business entities, including not-for-profit organizations and certain employee benefit plans, to implement the credit losses standard issued in 2016, for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, including interim periods within those fiscal years. This aligns the implementation date for their annual financial statements with the implementation date for their interim financial statements. The guidance also clarifies that receivables arising from operating leases are not within the scope of the credit losses standard, but rather, should be accounted for in accordance with the leases standard. ASU 2018-19 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2018-19 on the consolidated financial statements. In April 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-04 "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments" to clarify and improve areas of guidance related to the recently issued standards on credit losses, hedging, and recognition and measurement. ASU 2019-04 is effective as of the beginning of the first annual reporting period beginning after April 25, 2019 for amendments to ASU 2017-12 and for fiscal and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019 for amendments relating to ASU 2016-01 and ASU 2016-13. The Company does not expect that the adoption of ASU 2019-04 will have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements. In May 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-05 "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief" to provide an option to irrevocably elect the fair value option for certain financial assets previously measured at amortized cost basis. ASU 2019-05 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2019-05 on its consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Recently Adopted Accounting Standards In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02 "Leases" to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. ASU 2016-02 creates a new Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842 "Leases" to replace the previous Topic 840 "Leases." ASU 2016-02 affects both lessees and lessors, although for the latter the provisions are similar to the previous model, but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model and also the new revenue recognition provisions contained in Topic 606. ASU 2016-02 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company has adopted ASC 842 effective January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective transition approach, which allows the Company to recognize a cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit in the period of adoption rather than restate our comparative prior year periods. Based on the Company's analysis, the cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit is zero because (i) the Company does not have any unamortized initial direct costs as of January 1, 2019 that need to be written off; (ii) the Company does not have any lease incentives or accrued rental transactions that needs to be recognized; and (iii) the timing and pattern of revenue recognition under its revenue contracts that have lease and non-lease components is not materially different. The Company has elected the package of practical expedients applied to all of its leases (including those for which it is a lessee and lessor) that permit it not to (i) reassess whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; (ii) reassess the lease classification for any expired or existing leases and (iii) reassess initial direct costs for any existing leases. Furthermore the Company has not elected the practical expedient to use hindsight when determining the lease term. For arrangements where we are the lessor, the new lease standard provides a practical expedient for lessors in which the lessor may elect, by class of underlying asset, to not separate non-lease components from the associated lease component and, instead, to account for these components as a single component if both of the following are met: (1) the timing and pattern of transfer of the non-lease component(s) and associated lease component are the same and (2) the lease component, if accounted for separately, would be classified as an operating lease. When a lessor, we have elected this expedient for our time charter contracts, voyage charter and bareboat charter contracts that qualify as operating leases and thus do not separate the non-lease component, or service element, from the lease. Revenues from contracts where the non-lease component is the predominant component are accounted for under ASC 606. The adoption of ASC 842 did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements. In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-12 "Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities" to enable entities to better portray the economics of their risk management activities in the financial statements and enhance the transparency and understandability of hedge results. The amendments also simplify the application of hedge accounting in certain situations. ASU 2017-12 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. Upon adoption, the cumulative effect of adopting this guidance resulted in a net adjustment of $32 thousand to the opening balance of retained earnings as of January 1, 2019.

SHARE CAPITAL, ADDITIONAL PAID-IN CAPITAL AND CONTRIBUTED SURPLUS (Narrative) (Details) - $ / shares	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Stockholders' Equity Note [Abstract]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period	2,461	0
Share capital, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercisable, Weighted Average Exercise Price	$ 12.30

INVESTMENTS IN DIRECT FINANCING AND SALES-TYPE LEASES (Narrative) (Details) $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2018 vessel	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) containership	Dec. 31, 2018 vessel	Jun. 30, 2019 vessel	Jun. 30, 2019	Apr. 30, 2019 Rate	Jul. 31, 2018 Rate
Net Investment in Direct Financing and Sales Type Leases [Abstract]
Number of VLCC crude tankers accounted for as direct financing leases		3		3	3
Term of charters, minimum (in years)			6 years
Term of charters, maximum (in years)			8 years
Number of offshore supply vessels chartered on long-term bareboat charters					1
Number of offshore support vessels for which company will receive 50% of agreed charter					2
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter	15 years		7 years	15 years
Property, Plant and Equipment, Transfers and Changes \| $			$ 27.0
Agreed Proportion of temporary reduction to daily charter rate \| Rate							100.00%	50.00%
MSC [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter			5 years
Number of Container Vessels transferred from Vessels to Finance Lease Asset						2
Number of container vessels			29		19
Minimum [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter		6 years	5 years
Four Container Vessels \| MSC [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter			15 years

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (Details)	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (Details)	Sep. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) containership Rate	Jun. 30, 2018 Rate	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) Rate	Jun. 30, 2019 NOK (kr)	Jun. 30, 2019 vessel	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 04, 2019 NOK (kr)	Apr. 30, 2019 Rate	Sep. 13, 2018 NOK (kr)	Jul. 31, 2018 Rate	Apr. 23, 2018	Oct. 31, 2017 NOK (kr)	Sep. 12, 2017 subsidiary Rate	Oct. 05, 2016
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative Asset, Current				$ 5,279,000				$ 0
Derivative, Notional Amount				900,000,000				900,000,000
Agreed Proportion of temporary reduction to daily charter rate \| Rate										100.00%		50.00%
Loans to related parties which are associates				310,144,000				312,660,000
Derivative Asset, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				10,633,000				2,597,000
Derivative Liability, Current				45,047,000				4,390,000
Derivative Liability, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				16,213,000				16,713,000
NOK500million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2020 [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Face Amount \| kr														kr 500,000,000
NOK600million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023 [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Face Amount \| kr											kr 600,000,000
NOK700million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2024 [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Face Amount \| kr									kr 700,000,000
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2021 [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage							5.75%									5.75%
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage							4.875%						4.875%			4.875%
Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Long Term Receivables, Non Designated Options To Extend Interest Rate Swaps				5,200,000				0
Swap Contracts, Short Term Payables, Fair Value Disclosure				12,000,000.0				0
Long Term Payables, Non Designated Interest Rate Swaps				$ 100,000				1,900,000
Sales Revenue, Net [Member] \| Evergreen [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Concentration Risk, Percentage		15.00%	3.00%	10.00%
Sales Revenue, Net [Member] \| Maersk [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Concentration Risk, Percentage		31.00%	26.00%	27.00%
Sales Revenue, Net [Member] \| MSC [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Concentration Risk, Percentage		14.00%	11.00%	11.00%
Sales Revenue, Net [Member] \| Customer Concentration Risk [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Concentration Risk, Percentage \| Rate		4.00%	10.00%	8.00%
Sales Revenue, Net [Member] \| Golden Ocean [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Concentration Risk, Percentage		11.00%	14.00%	13.00%
Concentration Risk Benchmark, Net Income [Member] \| Customer Concentration Risk [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Concentration Risk, Percentage \| Rate		26.00%	36.00%	39.00%
Equity Accounted Subsidiaries [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Guarantor Obligations, Current Carrying Value				$ 266,100,000				266,100,000
Frontline Shipping [Member] \| Frontline [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent							100.00%
Seadrill [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Loans to related parties which are associates				342,000,000.0				319,000,000.0
Frontline Ltd [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Guarantee Compliance, Minimum Free Cash								2,000,000
Related Party Transactions Daily Vessel Management Fee		$ 9,000
Seadrill [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Number of wholly-owned subsidiaries that own drilling units accounted for using the equity method \| subsidiary															3
Agreed Proportion of temporary reduction to daily charter rate \| Rate															29.00%
Agreed Temporary Reduction in Daily Time Charter Rates, Period	5 years
Agreed Period of Charter Extension following Amendments	13 months
Number of drilling rigs owned by wholly-owned subsidiaries account for using the equity method \| subsidiary															3
Agreed period of extension to bank loan term	4 years
Evergreen [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Number of container vessels \| containership		4
Maersk [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Number of container vessels \| containership		10
MSC [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Number of container vessels		29				19
Golden Ocean [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Property Subject to or Available for Operating Lease, Number of Units \| vessel						8
Cross Currency Interest Rate Contract 4 [Member] \| Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative, Notional Amount					kr 500,000,000			64,000,000.0
Cross Currency Interest Rate Contract [Member] \| Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative Asset, Current				5,279,000				0
Derivative Liability, Current				12,043,000				0
Cross Currency Interest Rate Contract [Member] \| Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative Liability, Current				33,004,000				4,390,000
Interest Rate Swap [Member] \| Not Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative Asset, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				5,174,000				0
Derivative Liability, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				86,000				1,901,000
Interest Rate Swap [Member] \| Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative Asset, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				5,459,000				2,597,000
Derivative Liability, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				1,811,000				5,859,000
Cross Currency Interest Rate Swap [Member] \| Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative Liability, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				4,709,000				8,953,000
Cross Currency Contract [Member] \| Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative Liability, Fair Value, Amount Not Offset Against Collateral				$ 9,607,000				0
Cross Currency Interest Rate Contract 6 [Member] \| Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative, Notional Amount					600,000,000			76,800,000
Cross Currency Interest Rate Contract 7 [Member] \| Designated as Hedging Instrument [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Derivative, Notional Amount					kr 700,000,000			$ 80,500,000

CAPITAL LEASE OBLIGATION, Future Minimum Lease Obligations (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Capital Lease Obligation [Abstract]
2019 (remaining six months)	$ 67,552
2020	126,868
2021	126,726
2022	126,726
2023	126,726
Thereafter	976,801
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	1,551,399
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments, Interest Included in Payments	410,247
Capital Lease Obligations	1,141,152	$ 1,172,051
Capital Lease Obligations, Current	69,491	67,793
Capital Lease Obligations, Noncurrent	$ 1,071,661	$ 1,104,258

SUBSEQUENT EVENTS (Narrative) (Details)		1 Months Ended			6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS (Narrative) (Details)	Aug. 20, 2019 $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2019 shares	Jul. 31, 2019	Oct. 31, 2015	Jun. 30, 2019 containership shares	Dec. 31, 2018 shares	Aug. 01, 2019 NOK (kr)	Aug. 01, 2019 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 containership	Sep. 13, 2018 NOK (kr)	May 31, 2018 containership	Apr. 05, 2018 containership
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Number of Container Vessels acquired \| containership					7				3		4	15
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period					2,461	0
Term of lease or charter				15 years	7 years	15 years
Subsequent Event [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Number of Container Vessels acquired			3
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period		15,785
Term of time charter			6 years
Debt Issued, Percentage Premium							101.625%	101.625%
Number of newbuilds to be delivered		3
Term of lease or charter		5 years
Dividends declares (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 0.35
NOK600million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023 [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Principle debt amount \| kr										kr 600,000,000
NOK600million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023 [Member] \| Subsequent Event [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Principle debt amount							kr 100,000,000	$ 11,000,000
10,600 TEU Containership [Member] \| Subsequent Event [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Number of Container Vessels acquired			3

VESSELS UNDER CAPITAL LEASE, NET (Narrative) (Details) $ in Thousands	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) containership	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 containership	May 31, 2018 containership	Apr. 05, 2018 containership
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Capital Leased Assets, Gross		$ 754,392	$ 755,058	$ 754,392
Number of Container Vessels acquired \| containership			7		3	4	15
Term of lease or charter	15 years		7 years	15 years
Number of year before option to buy vessel is available		6		6
Capital Leases, Lessee Balance Sheet, Assets by Major Class, Accumulated Depreciation		$ 4,503	$ 22,509	$ 4,503
Capital Leases, Balance Sheet, Assets by Major Class, Net		$ 749,889	$ 732,549	$ 749,889
Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter		6 years	5 years
Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter		11 years

SHARE OPTION PLAN	6 Months Ended
SHARE OPTION PLAN	Jun. 30, 2019
Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]
SHARE OPTION PLAN	SHARE OPTION PLAN In November 2006, the Board of Directors approved the Company's Share Option Scheme (the "Option Scheme"). The Option Scheme will expire in November 2026, following the renewal in November 2016. The terms and conditions remain unchanged from those originally adopted in November 2006 and permits the Board of Directors, at its discretion, to grant options to employees, officers and directors of the Company or its subsidiaries. The fair value cost of options granted is recognized in the statement of operations, and the corresponding amount is credited to additional paid-in capital. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, additional paid-in capital was credited with $0.4 million relating to the fair value of options granted in September 2017, April 2018, January 2019 and March 2019. In the six months ended June 30, 2019, 13,334 options were exercised into 2,461 shares under the Option Scheme. In January 2019, the Company awarded a total of 100,000 options to directors, officers and employees, pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme. The options have a five year term and a three year vesting period and the first options will be exercisable from January 2020 onwards. The initial strike price was $11.50 per share. In March 2019, the Company also awarded a total of 425,000 options to officers and employees, pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme. The options have a five year term and a three year vesting period and the first options will be exercisable from March 2020 onwards. The initial strike price was $12.35 per share. Total unrecognized compensation cost relating to the outstanding options under the Company's Option Scheme was $1.2 million as at June 30, 2019 (December 31, 2018: $0.3 million).

CONSOLIDATED VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES	6 Months Ended
CONSOLIDATED VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES	Jun. 30, 2019
CONSOLIDATED VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES [Abstract]
CONSOLIDATED VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES	CONSOLIDATED VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES As at June 30, 2019, the Company’s consolidated financial statements included 34 variable interest entities, all of which are wholly-owned subsidiaries. These subsidiaries own vessels with existing charters during which related and third parties have fixed price options to purchase the respective vessels, at dates varying from April 2019 to November 2033. It has been determined that the Company is the primary beneficiary of these entities, as none of the purchase options are deemed to be at bargain prices and none of the charters include sales options. At June 30, 2019, 18 of the consolidated variable interest entities have a vessel which is accounted for as a direct financing lease asset. At June 30, 2019, the vessels had a carrying value of $393.3 million, unearned lease income of $206.2 million and estimated residual value of $126.2 million. The outstanding loan balances in 16 of these entities amounted to a total of $43.9 million, of which the short-term portion was $6.4 million as at June 30, 2019. Also, two of the vessels that are included in the direct financing lease assets had outstanding obligations under capital lease which amounted to a total of $270.9 million, of which the short-term portion was $13.7 million, as at June 30, 2019. At June 30, 2019, 13 fully consolidated variable interest entities each own vessels which are accounted for as operating lease assets and had a total net book value of $276.0 million. The outstanding loan balances in these entities amounted to a total of $130.2 million, of which the short-term portion was $13.9 million as at June 30, 2019. The other three fully consolidated variable interest entities each own vessels which are accounted for as vessels under capital lease and had a total net book value of $304.0 million as at June 30, 2019. The outstanding obligations under capital lease for these entities amounted to a total of $260.1 million, of which the short-term portion was $18.6 million as at June 30, 2019.

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (Details)	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (Details)	Feb. 28, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 shares	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) vessel Rate	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) vessel Rate shares	Sep. 30, 2018 Rate	Feb. 13, 2018 USD ($) Rate	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($)
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from related parties				$ 15,970,000		$ 41,771,000
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term				312,660,000		310,144,000
Loans to related parties - others, long-term				14,629,000		15,616,000
Due to related parties				816,000		1,349,000
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Termination fee	$ 4,400,000					3,400,000
Profit sharing revenues				1,547,000	$ 0	1,779,000
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Direct financing lease interest income				1,932,000	5,986,000	9,623,000
Finance lease service revenue				4,887,000	13,428,000	22,095,000
Vessel Management Fees				16,453,000	24,847,000	45,266,000
Administration Services Fees				894,000	495,000	1,072,000
Related party loans [Abstract]
Initial face value								$ 8,900,000
Dividend income from related parties				2,164,000	0	0
Fair value				115,558,000		87,174,000
Proceeds from Sale of Available-for-sale Securities						45,600,000
Debt and Equity Securities, Realized Gain (Loss)				$ 0	0	$ 13,477,000
Frontline Ltd [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Issued share capital (percent) \| Rate				6.43%		6.48%
SFL Linus [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term				$ 121,000,000		$ 121,000,000
Related party loans [Abstract]
Loans advanced to related parties				125,000,000
Net outstanding loan balance				121,000,000.0
Accrued interest on loan notes receivable with related parties				2,700,000		5,400,000			$ 2,700,000
SFL Deepwater [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term				111,660,000		109,144,000
Related party loans [Abstract]
Loans advanced to related parties				145,000,000
Net outstanding loan balance				111,700,000
Accrued interest on loan notes receivable with related parties				2,500,000		5,100,000			2,500,000
SFL Hercules [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term				80,000,000		80,000,000
Related party loans [Abstract]
Loans advanced to related parties				145,000,000
Net outstanding loan balance				80,000,000.0
Accrued interest on loan notes receivable with related parties				1,800,000		3,600,000			$ 1,800,000
Frontline [Member]
Related party loans [Abstract]
Dividend income from related parties				0	0	0
ADS [Member]
Related party loans [Abstract]
Dividend income from related parties				$ 200,000		0
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage \| Rate				17.00%
Frontline Ltd [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from related parties				$ 9,332,000		8,430,000
Due from Related Parties, Noncurrent				10,183,000		11,170,000
SFL Linus [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from related parties				4,670,000		21,718,000
SFL Hercules [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from related parties				1,672,000		10,125,000
Seadrill [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from related parties				52,000		223,000
Golden Ocean [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due to related parties				$ 0		$ 91,000
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Number of vessels leased to related parties classified as operating leases \| vessel						8
Profit share on charter revenues (percent) \| Rate				33.00%
Profit sharing revenues				$ 0	0	$ 200,000
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Vessel Management Fees				10,136,000	10,136,000	20,440,000
Operating Management Fees				443,000	360,000	793,000
Other related parties [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from related parties				2,000		50,000
Due to related parties				7,000		8,000
Frontline Charterers [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from related parties				242,000		1,225,000
Due to related parties				$ 287,000		$ 1,125,000
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Number of vessels leased to related parties classified as direct financing leases \| vessel				3		3
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Vessel Management Fees				$ 5,873,000	14,351,000	$ 24,033,000
Commissions and Brokerage				167,000	132,000	287,000
Administration Services Fees				162,000	161,000	323,000
Frontline Management [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due to related parties				64,000		125,000
Seatankers [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due to related parties				458,000		0
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Administration Services Fees				458,000	145,000	290,000
Frontline Charterers and Deep Sea [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Combined balance of net investments in direct financing leases				111,300,000		115,000,000.0
Combined balance of net investments in direct financing leases, short-term maturities				8,100,000		8,000,000.0
Frontline Shipping [Member]
Amounts due from and to related parties [Abstract]
Due from Related Parties, Noncurrent				$ 4,446,000		4,446,000
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Termination fee	$ 4,400,000
Receivable, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage \| Rate								7.50%
Profit share on charter revenues (percent) \| Rate				50.00%
Frontline Charterers, Deep Sea and UFC [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Vessels and equipment, net				$ 209,700,000		217,700,000
Profit sharing revenues				1,547,000	0	1,779,000
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Operating lease income				25,752,000	26,498,000	53,258,000
Direct financing lease interest income				1,932,000	5,986,000	9,623,000
Finance lease service revenue				4,887,000	13,428,000	22,095,000
Direct financing lease repayments				3,981,000	10,247,000	16,802,000
Frontline Shipping and Frontline Shipping II [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Profit share income from July 1 2015 onwards			$ 1,500,000	1,500,000	0
Frontline reverse stock split [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Ordinary shares in Frontline (shares) \| shares		11,000,000
Seatankers Management AS [Member]
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Management fees paid, provision of office facilities				52,000	55,000	108,000
Frontline Corporate Services [Member]
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Administration Services Fees				120,000	61,000	166,000
Frontline Management AS [Member]
Leasing revenues earned from related parties [Abstract]
Management fees paid, provision of office facilities				102,000	73,000	185,000
NorAm Drilling [Member]
Related party loans [Abstract]
Interest income on holding of investments in secured notes				200,000	300,000	500,000
Golden Close [Member]
Related party loans [Abstract]
Dividend income from related parties				2,000,000.0
Interest income on holding of investments in secured notes						200,000
Front Circassia [Member] \| Frontline Shipping [Member]
Related party loans [Abstract]
Interest income				400,000	0	500,000
Front Page, Front Stratus, Front Serenade [Member] \| Frontline [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Receivable, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage \| Rate							7.50%
Related party loans [Abstract]
Interest income				400,000	0	$ 300,000
Front Ariake [Member] \| Frontline [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Receivable, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage \| Rate						7.50%
Related party loans [Abstract]
Interest income				100,000	$ 0	$ 100,000
Common Stock, ADS [Member]
Related party loans [Abstract]
Fair value				9,200,000		$ 9,200,000
Common Stock, ADS [Member] \| ADS [Member]
Related party leasing and service contracts [Abstract]
Ordinary shares in Frontline (shares) \| shares						4,031,800
Payments to Acquire Marketable Securities						$ 10,000,000.0
Corporate Bond Securities_NorAm Drilling [Member]
Related party loans [Abstract]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale, Sold at Par Value				300,000
Fair value				$ 4,900,000		$ 5,192,000

VESSELS AND EQUIPMENT, NET (Summary of Vessels and Equipment, Net) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]
Cost	$ 1,916,581	$ 1,955,880
Accumulated depreciation	423,497	396,168
Vessels and equipment, net	1,493,084	1,559,712
Property, Plant and Equipment, Transfers and Changes	27,000
Cost Capitalised from Modifications to Vessels, before Transfer to the Vessel	$ 1,000	$ 500

EARNINGS PER SHARE (Narrative) (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands, kr in Millions	1 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Feb. 28, 2018 NOK (kr)	Oct. 31, 2016 shares	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2018 $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2018 $ / shares	Apr. 23, 2018 shares	Feb. 01, 2018 shares	Oct. 05, 2016	Jan. 31, 2013
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Basic earnings per share \| $ / shares			$ 0.57	$ 0.39	$ 0.70
Diluted earnings per share \| $ / shares			$ 0.56	$ 0.39	$ 0.69
Shares issued and loaned to affiliate		8,000,000
Shares issuable under a share lending arrangement						7,000,000
Debt paid in cash \| $			$ 196,761
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2021 [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Interest rate			5.75%					5.75%
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Interest rate			4.875%			4.875%		4.875%
US dollar 350 Million Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds Due 2018 [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Interest rate									3.25%
Debt paid in cash \| kr	kr 63.2
Shares issued on conversion of convertible debt							651,365
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member]
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Issued shares excluded from weighted average common shares outstanding						3,765,842
Shares issued on conversion of convertible debt			60.3956			52.8157

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 212,400	$ 211,394
Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents, Current	0	1,000
Available for sale securities	115,558	87,174
Due from related parties	15,970	41,771
Trade accounts receivable	2,519	2,976
Other receivables	26,239	13,041
Inventories	7,088	8,547
Prepaid expenses and accrued income	2,255	2,593
Investment in direct financing leases, current portion	43,807	39,804
Total derivative instruments - short-term assets	0	5,279
Total current assets	425,836	413,579
Vessels and equipment, net	1,493,084	1,559,712
Finance Lease, Right-of-Use Asset	732,549	749,889
Investment in direct financing leases, long-term portion	766,044	762,355
Investment in associated companies	34,098	25,107
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term	312,660	310,144
Long-term receivables from related parties	14,629	15,616
Financial instruments (long-term): at fair value	2,597	10,633
Other long-term assets	25,388	30,810
Total assets	3,806,885	3,877,845
Current liabilities
Short-term debt and current portion of long-term debt	188,029	267,149
Capital Lease Obligations, Current	69,491	67,793
Due to related parties	816	1,349
Trade accounts payable	1,540	1,945
Total derivative instruments - short-term liabilities	4,390	45,047
Accrued expenses	11,999	12,510
Other current liabilities	9,773	8,332
Total current liabilities	286,038	404,125
Long-term liabilities
Long-term debt, net of current portion	1,274,663	1,169,931
Capital Lease Obligations, Noncurrent	1,071,661	1,104,258
Financial instruments (long-term): at fair value	16,713	16,213
Other long-term liabilities	3,183	3,286
Total liabilities	2,652,258	2,697,813
Commitments and contingent liabilities
Stockholders' equity
Share capital ($0.01 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; 119,375,525 shares issued and outstanding at June 30, 2019). ($0.01 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; 119,373,064 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2018).	1,194	1,194
Additional paid-in capital	468,973	468,844
Contributed surplus	680,703	680,703
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	(12,174)	(220)
Retained earnings	15,931	29,511
Total stockholders' equity	1,154,627	1,180,032
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	$ 3,806,885	$ 3,877,845

INVESTMENTS IN DIRECT FINANCING AND SALES-TYPE LEASES (Components of the Investments in Direct Financing and Sales-Type Leases) (Details) $ in Thousands	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2015	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) containership vessel	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) vessel	Sep. 30, 2018 containership	May 31, 2018 containership	Apr. 05, 2018 containership
Number of VLCCs \| vessel		3	3
Assets accounted for as direct financing and sales type leases \| vessel		26	24
Number of container vessels \| containership		7		3	4	15
Term of lease or charter	15 years	7 years	15 years
Term of time charter, minimum period		6 years
Term of time charter, maximum period		8 years
Total minimum lease payments to be received		$ 1,142,619	$ 1,173,152
Less: amounts representing estimated executory costs including profit thereon, included in total minimum lease payments		(69,190)	(74,077)
Net minimum lease payments receivable		1,073,429	1,099,075
Estimated residual values of leased property (un-guaranteed)		192,080	180,080
Less: unearned income		(455,658)	(476,996)
Total investment in direct financing and sales-type leases		809,851	802,159
Current portion		43,807	39,804
Long-term portion		$ 766,044	$ 762,355
MSC [Member]
Assets accounted for as direct financing leases \| vessel		4
Assets accounted for as sales-type lease \| vessel		1
Term of lease or charter		5 years
Frontline Shipping [Member] \| Solship [Member]
Assets accounted for as direct financing and sales type leases \| vessel		4

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (Fair Value and Carrying Value) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Corporate Bond Securities [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities	$ 14,221	$ 13,245
Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities	14,221	13,245
Equity Securities, FV-NI	101,337	73,929
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2019	0	77,916
Swap contracts short term receivables fair value disclosure	0	5,279
Swap contracts, long term receivables, fair value disclosure	2,597	10,633
Swap Contracts, Short Term Payables, Fair Value Disclosure	4,390	45,047
Swap contracts, long term payables, fair value disclosure	16,713	16,213
Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Equity Securities, FV-NI	101,337	73,929
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2019	0	77,722
Swap contracts short term receivables fair value disclosure	0	5,279
Swap contracts, long term receivables, fair value disclosure	2,597	10,633
Swap Contracts, Short Term Payables, Fair Value Disclosure	4,390	45,047
Swap contracts, long term payables, fair value disclosure	16,713	16,213
NOK500million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2020 [Member] \| Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2020	60,368	58,841
NOK500million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2020 [Member] \| Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2020	58,582	57,829
NOK600million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023 [Member] \| Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2023	70,562	69,568
NOK600million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2023 [Member] \| Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2023	70,298	69,395
NOK700million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2024 [Member] \| Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2024	82,014	0
NOK700million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2024 [Member] \| Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2024	82,014	0
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2021 [Member] \| Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Convertible Debt, Fair Value Disclosures	213,822	199,496
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2021 [Member] \| Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Convertible Debt, Fair Value Disclosures	212,230	212,230
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member] \| Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Convertible Debt, Fair Value Disclosures	149,819	139,374
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member] \| Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Convertible Debt, Fair Value Disclosures	$ 148,300	$ 151,700

SHARE OPTION PLAN (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions		1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jan. 04, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Number of options exercised (shares)			13,334
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Options, Exercises in Period			2,461	0
Unrecognized compensation costs related to non-vested options granted			$ 1.2	$ 0.3
Ship Finance International Limited Share Option Scheme [Member]
Credit to additional paid-in capital			$ 0.4
Employee Stock Option [Member]
Number of options awarded (shares)	100,000	425,000
Initial strike price (usd per share)	$ 11.50	$ 12.35
New Options Granted During The Year [Member]
Term of options	5 years	5 years
Vesting period	3 years	3 years

INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA (Policies)	6 Months Ended
INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA (Policies)	Jun. 30, 2019
INTERIM FINANCIAL DATA [Abstract]
Basis of Accounting	Basis of accounting The condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with US GAAP. The condensed consolidated financial statements include the assets and liabilities and results of operations of the Company and its subsidiaries including variable interest entities in which SFL is deemed to be the primary beneficiary. All inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated on consolidation. The condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with the accounting policies described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018.
Recently Issued Accounting Standards	Recently Issued Accounting Standards In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13 "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses" to introduce new guidance for the accounting for credit losses on instruments within its scope. ASU 2016-13 requires among other things, the measurement of all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable supportable forecasts. Many of the loss estimation techniques applied today will still be permitted, although the inputs to those techniques will change to reflect the full amount of expected credit losses. In addition, ASU 2016-13 amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. ASU 2016-13 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2016-13 on its consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13 "Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement". ASU 2018-13 includes certain removals, modifications and additions to the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in Topic 820. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is permitted to early adopt any removed or modified disclosures upon issuance of ASU 2018-13 and delay adoption of the additional disclosures until their effective date. The impact on the consolidated financial statements of the Company will depend on the facts and circumstances of any specific future transactions. In October 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-16 "Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Inclusion of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) Overnight Index Swap (OIS) Rate as a Benchmark Interest Rate for Hedge Accounting Purposes." In the United States, eligible benchmark interest rates under Topic 815 are interest rates on direct Treasury obligations of the U.S. government (UST), the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) swap rate, and the Overnight Index Swap (OIS) Rate based on the Federal Funds Effective Rate. When the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities, in August 2017, it introduced the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Municipal Swap Rate as the fourth permissible U.S. benchmark rate. The new ASU adds the OIS rate based on SOFR as a U.S. benchmark interest rate to facilitate the LIBOR to SOFR transition and provide sufficient lead time for entities to prepare for changes to interest rate risk hedging strategies for both risk management and hedge accounting purposes. ASU 2018-16 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2018-16 on the consolidated financial statements. In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-18 "Collaborative Arrangements (Topic 808): Clarifying the Interaction between Topic 808 and Topic 606", which defines a collaborative arrangement as a contractual arrangement under which two or more parties actively participate in a joint operating activity and are exposed to significant risks and rewards that depend on the activity’s commercial success. The ASU provides guidance on how to assess whether certain transactions between collaborative arrangement participants should be accounted for within the revenue recognition standard. The ASU also provides more comparability in the presentation of revenue for certain transactions between collaborative arrangement participants. It accomplishes this by allowing organizations to only present units of account in collaborative arrangements that are within the scope of the revenue recognition standard together with revenue accounted for under the revenue recognition standard. The parts of the collaborative arrangement that are not in the scope of the revenue recognition standard should be presented separately from revenue accounted for under the revenue recognition standard. ASU 2018-18 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company does not expect that the adoption of ASU 2018-18 will have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements. Also in November 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-19 "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses" to provide new guidance to mitigate the transition complexity by requiring entities other than public business entities, including not-for-profit organizations and certain employee benefit plans, to implement the credit losses standard issued in 2016, for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, including interim periods within those fiscal years. This aligns the implementation date for their annual financial statements with the implementation date for their interim financial statements. The guidance also clarifies that receivables arising from operating leases are not within the scope of the credit losses standard, but rather, should be accounted for in accordance with the leases standard. ASU 2018-19 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2018-19 on the consolidated financial statements. In April 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-04 "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments" to clarify and improve areas of guidance related to the recently issued standards on credit losses, hedging, and recognition and measurement. ASU 2019-04 is effective as of the beginning of the first annual reporting period beginning after April 25, 2019 for amendments to ASU 2017-12 and for fiscal and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019 for amendments relating to ASU 2016-01 and ASU 2016-13. The Company does not expect that the adoption of ASU 2019-04 will have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements. In May 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-05 "Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Targeted Transition Relief" to provide an option to irrevocably elect the fair value option for certain financial assets previously measured at amortized cost basis. ASU 2019-05 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact of ASU 2019-05 on its consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Recently Adopted Accounting Standards In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02 "Leases" to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. ASU 2016-02 creates a new Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842 "Leases" to replace the previous Topic 840 "Leases." ASU 2016-02 affects both lessees and lessors, although for the latter the provisions are similar to the previous model, but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model and also the new revenue recognition provisions contained in Topic 606. ASU 2016-02 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company has adopted ASC 842 effective January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective transition approach, which allows the Company to recognize a cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit in the period of adoption rather than restate our comparative prior year periods. Based on the Company's analysis, the cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit is zero because (i) the Company does not have any unamortized initial direct costs as of January 1, 2019 that need to be written off; (ii) the Company does not have any lease incentives or accrued rental transactions that needs to be recognized; and (iii) the timing and pattern of revenue recognition under its revenue contracts that have lease and non-lease components is not materially different. The Company has elected the package of practical expedients applied to all of its leases (including those for which it is a lessee and lessor) that permit it not to (i) reassess whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; (ii) reassess the lease classification for any expired or existing leases and (iii) reassess initial direct costs for any existing leases. Furthermore the Company has not elected the practical expedient to use hindsight when determining the lease term. For arrangements where we are the lessor, the new lease standard provides a practical expedient for lessors in which the lessor may elect, by class of underlying asset, to not separate non-lease components from the associated lease component and, instead, to account for these components as a single component if both of the following are met: (1) the timing and pattern of transfer of the non-lease component(s) and associated lease component are the same and (2) the lease component, if accounted for separately, would be classified as an operating lease. When a lessor, we have elected this expedient for our time charter contracts, voyage charter and bareboat charter contracts that qualify as operating leases and thus do not separate the non-lease component, or service element, from the lease. Revenues from contracts where the non-lease component is the predominant component are accounted for under ASC 606. The adoption of ASC 842 did not have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements. In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-12 "Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities" to enable entities to better portray the economics of their risk management activities in the financial statements and enhance the transparency and understandability of hedge results. The amendments also simplify the application of hedge accounting in certain situations. ASU 2017-12 is effective for fiscal years and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. Upon adoption, the cumulative effect of adopting this guidance resulted in a net adjustment of $32 thousand to the opening balance of retained earnings as of January 1, 2019.

OTHER FINANCIAL AND NON-OPERATING ITEMS (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($)	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Feb. 28, 2018	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2016	Feb. 13, 2018
Fair Value, Assets and Liabilities Measured on Recurring and Nonrecurring Basis [Line Items]
Notes Compensation Received on Termination of Charters, Face Value						$ 8,900,000
Compensation Received on Termination of Charters, Notes Receivable	$ 4,400,000			$ 3,400,000
Gain (loss) from foreign currency translation		$ 100,000	$ 100,000	(2,000,000.0)
Retained Earnings [Member] \| ASU 2017-12 [Member] [Member]
Fair Value, Assets and Liabilities Measured on Recurring and Nonrecurring Basis [Line Items]
Reclassification from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income, Current Period, Net of Tax		$ 32,000.0	$ 0	$ 0
Front Circassia [Member]
Fair Value, Assets and Liabilities Measured on Recurring and Nonrecurring Basis [Line Items]
Term of Note, in years					6 years
Receivable, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage					7.25%
Notes Compensation Received on Termination of Charters, Face Value					$ 14,600,000
Compensation Received on Termination of Charters, Notes Receivable					$ 11,600,000

GAIN ON SALE OF ASSETS AND TERMINATION OF CHARTERS (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	1 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	May 31, 2018	Feb. 28, 2018	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2018
Other Income and Expenses [Abstract]
Gain/(loss) on sale of assets and termination of charters, net	$ (200)	$ (1,400)	$ 0	$ (1,623)	$ (2,578)
Proceeds from sale of vessels and termination of charters	$ 12,700	17,900	$ 0	$ 30,169	145,654
Compensation in the form of a loan note		$ 4,400			$ 3,400

CAPITAL LEASE OBLIGATION, Narrative (Details) $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
CAPITAL LEASE OBLIGATION, Narrative (Details) $ in Millions	Oct. 31, 2015 vessel	Dec. 31, 2018	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 27, 2018 vessel	Sep. 30, 2018 containership	May 31, 2018 containership
Other Long-term Liabilities [Line Items]
Number of container vessels contracted to be chartered in \| vessel	2					2
Term of lease or charter	15 years		7 years		15 years
Capital Leased Assets, Number of Units								4
Interest incurred on capital leases \| $			$ 31.5	$ 8.6	$ 21.8
Number of year before option to buy vessel is available		6			6
10,600 TEU Containership [Member]
Other Long-term Liabilities [Line Items]
Capital Leased Assets, Number of Units							3
Minimum [Member]
Other Long-term Liabilities [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter		6 years	5 years
Maximum [Member]
Other Long-term Liabilities [Line Items]
Term of lease or charter		11 years

CONSOLIDATED VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES (Narrative) (Details) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) subsidiary variable_interest_entity	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Number of variable interest entities \| subsidiary	34
Estimated residual values of leased property (un-guaranteed)	$ 192,080	$ 180,080
Variable Interest Entities With Assets Accounted for as Direct Financing Leases [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Number Of Variable Interest Entities with attached Debt \| subsidiary	16
Number of variable interest entities \| subsidiary	18
Carrying value of vessels	$ 393,300
Unearned lease income	206,200
Estimated residual values of leased property (un-guaranteed)	126,200
Outstanding loan balance	43,900
Outstanding loan balance, current portion	6,400
Variable Interest Entity, Outstanding Lease Obligations	270,900
Variable Interest Entity, Outstanding Lease Obligations, Short Term	$ 13,700
Variable Interest Entities which contain Finance Lease Obligations [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Number of variable interest entities \| variable_interest_entity	2
Variable Interest Entities With Assets Accounted for as Operating Lease Assets [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Number of variable interest entities \| subsidiary	13
Carrying value of vessels	$ 276,000
Outstanding loan balance	130,200
Outstanding loan balance, current portion	$ 13,900
Variable Interest Entities Accounted for as Vessels under Capital Lease [Member]
Variable Interest Entity [Line Items]
Number of variable interest entities \| variable_interest_entity	3
Carrying value of vessels	$ 304,000
Variable Interest Entity, Outstanding Lease Obligations	260,100
Variable Interest Entity, Outstanding Lease Obligations, Short Term	$ 18,600

SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM DEBT (Details)	1 Months Ended					6 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM DEBT (Details)	Jun. 30, 2019 NOK (kr) containership subsidiary Rate shares	Mar. 31, 2019 USD ($) subsidiary	Feb. 28, 2019 USD ($) subsidiary	Feb. 28, 2018 NOK (kr)	Aug. 31, 2014 USD ($) subsidiary	Jun. 30, 2019 NOK (kr) containership Rate shares	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 NOK (kr) subsidiary Rate	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) subsidiary	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) containership $ / shares Rate shares	Jun. 11, 2019 USD ($)	Jun. 04, 2019 NOK (kr)	Jun. 04, 2019 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) Rate	Sep. 30, 2018 containership	May 31, 2018 containership	May 04, 2018 USD ($)	Apr. 23, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Apr. 05, 2018 containership	Feb. 01, 2018 shares	Oct. 31, 2017 NOK (kr)	Oct. 05, 2016	Mar. 19, 2014 NOK (kr)	Jan. 31, 2013
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Repurchased Face Amount											$ 11,000,000.0
Debt Instrument, Repurchase Amount											9,400,000
Gain (Loss) on Extinguishment of Debt							$ 1,802,000	$ 0		$ 1,146,000
Long-term debt											1,484,631,000
Long Term Debt- Fixed Interest Rate											571,424,000				$ 568,876,000
Total debt											1,484,631,000				1,460,347,000
Deferred Finance Costs, Noncurrent, Net											(21,939,000)				(23,267,000)
Less : current portion of long-term debt											(188,029,000)				(267,149,000)
Total long-term debt, non-current portion											1,274,663,000				$ 1,169,931,000
Drawdowns							217,338,000	553,000,000		825,984,000
Repayments and redemptions							(115,739,000)	(69,226,000)		(778,731,000)
Effects of foreign exchange							3,707,000
Year ending December 31,
2018 (remaining six months)											76,104,000
2019											198,565,000
2020											513,236,000
2021											255,185,000
2022											280,353,000
Thereafter											161,188,000
Long-term debt											$ 1,484,631,000
Weighted average interest rate (in hundredths) \| Rate	4.19%					4.19%			4.22%		4.19%				4.22%
Three month dollar LIBOR rate (in hundredths) \| Rate	2.37%					2.37%			2.81%		2.37%				2.81%
Three month Norwegian kroner NIBOR rate (in hundredths) \| Rate	1.52%					1.52%			1.27%		1.52%				1.27%
Debt paid in cash							196,761,000
Number of container vessels \| containership	7					7					7					3	4			15
Issuable under a share lending arrangement (shares) \| shares																			7,000,000
Equity component of convertible bond issuance, net							0	7,905,000		7,905,000
Book value of assets pledged under ship mortgages											$ 1,650,000,000				$ 1,527,000,000
Share Price \| $ / shares											$ 12.51
Repurchase of bonds							80,749,000	63,218,000		97,248,000
Gain (Loss) on Repurchase of Debt Instrument							300,000	0		400,000
Fixed Rate and Foreign Debt [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Drawdowns							79,862,000
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											$ 148,300,000				151,700,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											$ 148,300,000				151,700,000
Shares issued on conversion of convertible debt \| shares	60.3956					60.3956					60.3956								52.8157
Principle debt amount																		$ 14,000,000.0	$ 150,000,000.0
Conversion price (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares											$ 16.56								$ 18.93
Issued shares (shares) \| shares																			3,765,842
Amortization of deferred charges							300,000	300,000		1,000,000.0
Premium of Convertible Debt if Converted at Balance Sheet Date											$ 36,300,000
Repurchase of bonds							3,400,000			$ 12,300,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Carrying Amount of Equity Component											200,000				600,000
US dollar 33.1 million secured term loan facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											33,100,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											33,100,000
US dollar 24.9 million secured term loan facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											24,200,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											24,200,000
US dollar 29.5 million secured term loan facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											29,000,000.0
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											29,000,000.0
US dollar 50 million secured term loan facility (VLCCs) [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											50,000,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											50,000,000
Fixed Rate and Foreign Debt [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Repayments and redemptions							81,021,000
NOK 900 Million Senior Unsecured Bonds [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt									kr 672,000,000						77,722,000									kr 900,000,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt									672,000,000						77,722,000									kr 900,000,000
Debt paid in cash \| kr						kr 672,000,000			kr 228,000,000
NOK 600 Million Senior Unsecured Bond due 2023 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											70,298,000				69,395,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											70,298,000				69,395,000
Fixed Rate Debt [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Effects of foreign exchange							3,707,000
US dollar 350 Million Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds Due 2018 [Member]
Year ending December 31,
Interest rate																									3.25%
Debt paid in cash \| kr				kr 63,200,000
Shares issued on conversion of convertible debt \| shares																					651,365
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds Due 2018 [Member]
Year ending December 31,
Interest rate																							3.25%
NOK 900 million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2019 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											0
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											0
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2021 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											212,230,000				212,230,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											$ 212,230,000				212,230,000
Interest rate	5.75%					5.75%					5.75%												5.75%
NOK500million senior unsecured floating rate bonds due 2020 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											$ 58,582,000				57,829,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											58,582,000				57,829,000
Principle debt amount \| kr																						kr 500,000,000
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt											148,300,000				151,700,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt											$ 148,300,000				151,700,000
Interest rate	4.875%					4.875%					4.875%								4.875%				4.875%
Floating Rate Debt [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long Term Debt- Floating Interest Rate											$ 913,207,000				891,471,000
Drawdowns							137,476,000
Repayments and redemptions							115,740,000
Effects of foreign exchange							0
Floating Rate Debt [Member] \| US dollar 101 million secured term loan facility [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Gain (Loss) on Extinguishment of Debt							1,700,000
Long-term debt														$ 33,100,000	44,100,000
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt														$ 33,100,000	44,100,000
Principle debt amount					$ 101,400,000
Number Of Wholly Owned Subsidiaries Of Company That Entered Into Secured Term Loan Facility Agreement \| subsidiary					6
Number of sold wholly owned subsidiaries of company that entered into secured term loan facility agreement \| subsidiary									1	1
Debt Instrument, Term					5 years
Floating Rate Debt [Member] \| US dollar 33.1 million secured term loan facility [Member]
Year ending December 31,
Principle debt amount												$ 33,100,000
Number Of Wholly Owned Subsidiaries Of Company That Entered Into Secured Term Loan Facility Agreement \| subsidiary	5
Debt Instrument, Term	4 years
Floating Rate Debt [Member] \| US dollar 24.9 million secured term loan facility [Member]
Year ending December 31,
Principle debt amount			$ 24,900,000
Number Of Wholly Owned Subsidiaries Of Company That Entered Into Secured Term Loan Facility Agreement \| subsidiary			3
Debt Instrument, Term			5 years
Floating Rate Debt [Member] \| US dollar 29.5 million secured term loan facility [Member]
Year ending December 31,
Principle debt amount		$ 29,500,000
Number Of Wholly Owned Subsidiaries Of Company That Entered Into Secured Term Loan Facility Agreement \| subsidiary		2
Debt Instrument, Term		5 years
Floating Rate Debt [Member] \| US dollar 50 million secured term loan facility (VLCCs) [Member]
Year ending December 31,
Principle debt amount			$ 50,000,000
Number Of Wholly Owned Subsidiaries Of Company That Entered Into Secured Term Loan Facility Agreement \| subsidiary			3
Debt Instrument, Term			4 years
NOK 700 Million Senior Unsecured Bond due 2024 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Long-term debt	kr 700,000,000					kr 700,000,000					82,014,000		kr 700,000,000		0
Year ending December 31,
Long-term debt	kr 700,000,000					kr 700,000,000					$ 82,014,000		kr 700,000,000		$ 0
Additional Paid-in Capital [Member] \| Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member]
Year ending December 31,
Equity component of convertible bond issuance, net							$ 0	$ 7,905,000		$ 7,906,000

INVESTMENT IN ASSOCIATED COMPANIES (Details) $ in Thousands	6 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
INVESTMENT IN ASSOCIATED COMPANIES (Details) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) drilling_rig Rate	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($) Rate	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) Rate	Sep. 30, 2017
Summarized balance sheet information [Abstract]
Current assets	$ 60,007		$ 58,089
Non-current assets	944,994		967,954
Total assets	1,005,001		1,026,043
Current liabilities	60,345		69,181
Non-current liabilities	910,558		931,755
Total liabilities	970,903		1,000,936
Total shareholders' equity	34,098		25,107
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Net operating revenues	33,289	$ 32,271	64,410
Net income	8,991	$ 7,451	$ 14,635
Loan balance outstanding	$ 1,484,631
Proportion of secured bank lenders in restructuring agreement with Seadrill Limited				97.00%
Proportion of bondholders in restructuring agreement with Seadrill Limited				40.00%
Number of drilling units \| drilling_rig	3
SFL Deepwater [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Participation in equity method investee (in hundredths) \| Rate	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Summarized balance sheet information [Abstract]
Current assets	$ 24,028		$ 19,558
Non-current assets	294,563		302,362
Total assets	318,591		321,920
Current liabilities	18,019		18,252
Non-current liabilities	291,692		297,060
Total liabilities	309,711		315,312
Total shareholders' equity	8,880		6,608
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Operating revenues	9,817	$ 9,651	19,594
Net operating revenues	9,817	9,651	19,540
Net income	2,272	1,964	3,973
Loan balance outstanding	195,801		203,686
Amount available to draw down	0		0
Dividends Paid	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
SFL Hercules [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Participation in equity method investee (in hundredths) \| Rate	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Summarized balance sheet information [Abstract]
Current assets	$ 18,848		$ 16,858
Non-current assets	282,125		290,370
Total assets	300,973		307,228
Current liabilities	19,088		19,487
Non-current liabilities	273,846		281,627
Total liabilities	292,934		301,114
Total shareholders' equity	8,039		6,114
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Operating revenues	9,536	$ 9,552	19,126
Net operating revenues	9,536	9,552	19,049
Net income	1,925	1,821	3,372
Loan balance outstanding	210,000		210,000
Amount available to draw down	0		0
Dividends Paid	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
SFL Linus [Member]
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Participation in equity method investee (in hundredths) \| Rate	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Summarized balance sheet information [Abstract]
Current assets	$ 17,131		$ 21,673
Non-current assets	368,306		375,222
Total assets	385,437		396,895
Current liabilities	23,238		31,442
Non-current liabilities	345,020		353,068
Total liabilities	368,258		384,510
Total shareholders' equity	17,179		12,385
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Operating revenues	13,936	$ 13,068	25,852
Net operating revenues	13,936	13,068	25,821
Net income	4,794	3,666	7,290
Loan balance outstanding	240,117		241,500
Amount available to draw down	0		0
Dividends Paid	0	0	0
Customer Concentration Risk [Member]
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Operating revenues	33,289	32,271	64,572
Financial Guarantee [Member] \| SFL Deepwater [Member]
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Amount guaranteed by Ship Finance	84,697		84,697
Financial Guarantee [Member] \| SFL Hercules [Member]
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Amount guaranteed by Ship Finance	78,947		78,947
Financial Guarantee [Member] \| SFL Linus [Member]
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Amount guaranteed by Ship Finance	102,470		102,470
Equity Accounted Subsidiaries [Member]
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Loan balance outstanding	645,918		655,186
Amount available to draw down	0		0
Amount guaranteed by Ship Finance	266,100		266,100
Dividends Paid	0	$ 0	0
Equity Accounted Subsidiaries [Member] \| Financial Guarantee [Member]
Statement of operations information [Abstract]
Amount guaranteed by Ship Finance	$ 266,114		$ 266,114

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS (Fair Value Hierarchy) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities	$ 14,221
Equity Securities, FV-NI	101,337
Swap contracts, long term receivables, fair value disclosure	2,597
Assets, Fair Value Disclosure	118,155
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2020	60,368
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2023	70,562
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2024	82,014
Fair value of convertible bonds due 2021	213,822
Fair value of convertible bonds due 2023	149,819
Swap Contracts, Short Term Payable, Fair Value Disclosure	4,390
Swap contracts, long term payables, fair value disclosure	16,713
Financial and Nonfinancial Liabilities, Fair Value Disclosure	597,688
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] \| Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities	14,221
Equity Securities, FV-NI	101,337
Assets, Fair Value Disclosure	115,558
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2020	60,368
Floating rate NOK bonds due 2023	70,562
Floating Rate NOK Bonds due 2024	82,014
Fair value of convertible bonds due 2021	213,822
Fair value of convertible bonds due 2023	149,819
Financial and Nonfinancial Liabilities, Fair Value Disclosure	576,585
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] \| Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Assets, Fair Value Disclosure
Financial and Nonfinancial Liabilities, Fair Value Disclosure
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] \| Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Swap contracts, long term receivables, fair value disclosure	2,597
Assets, Fair Value Disclosure	2,597
Swap Contracts, Short Term Payable, Fair Value Disclosure	4,390
Swap contracts, long term payables, fair value disclosure	16,713
Financial and Nonfinancial Liabilities, Fair Value Disclosure	$ 21,103
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2021 [Member] \| Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage	5.75%
Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member] \| Fair Value, Measurements, Recurring [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage	4.875%
Reported Value Measurement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Equity Securities, FV-NI	$ 101,337	$ 73,929
Swap contracts short term receivables fair value disclosure	0	5,279
Swap contracts, long term receivables, fair value disclosure	2,597	10,633
Swap contracts, long term payables, fair value disclosure	$ 16,713	$ 16,213
Reported Value Measurement [Member] \| Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2021 [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage	5.75%
Reported Value Measurement [Member] \| Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage	4.875%

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY - USD ($)	Total	Common Stock [Member]	Additional Paid-in Capital [Member]	Contributed Surplus [Member]	Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Member]	Accumulated other comprehensive loss associated companies [Member]	Retained Earnings [Member]	Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds Due 2018 [Member] Additional Paid-in Capital [Member]	Senior Unsecured Convertible Bonds due 2023 [Member] Additional Paid-in Capital [Member]
Starting Balance at Dec. 31, 2017	$ 1,194,997,000	$ 1,109,000	$ 403,659,000	$ 680,703,000	$ (94,612,000)	$ 206,000	$ 203,932,000
Starting Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2017	110,930,873	110,930,873
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Shares issued (in shares)	8,442,191	8,442,191
Shares issued	$ 85,000	$ 85,000
Amortization of stock based compensation	234,000		234,000
Stock Granted, Value, Share-based Compensation, Forfeited	0		0
Shares issued arising from conversion of 3.25% convertible bonds due 2018	9,927,000		9,927,000
Adjustments to Additional Paid in Capital, Equity Component of Convertible Debt, Subsequent Adjustments	(9,933,000)		0					$ (9,933,000)
Shares issued arising from consideration paid on vessel acquisitions	57,960,000		57,960,000
Equity component of convertible bond issuance, net	7,905,000								$ 7,905,000
Gain/(loss) on hedging financial instruments reclassified into earnings	126,000				126,000
Fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	9,480,000				9,119,000	361,000
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01 \| ASU 2016-01 [Member]					98,782,000		(98,782,000)
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01 \| ASU 2017-12 [Member] [Member]					0		0
Fair value adjustments to available-for-sale securities	0				4,540,000
Loss on marketable securities reclassified into earnings	4,540,000
Other comprehensive income/(loss)	(1,000)				(1,000)
Net income	40,421,000						40,421,000
Dividends declared	$ (73,917,000)						(73,917,000)
Ending Balance at Jun. 30, 2018		$ 1,194,000	469,752,000	680,703,000	17,954,000	567,000	71,654,000
Ending Balance (in shares) at Jun. 30, 2018	119,373,064	119,373,064
Starting Balance at Dec. 31, 2017	$ 1,194,997,000	$ 1,109,000	403,659,000	680,703,000	(94,612,000)	206,000	203,932,000
Starting Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2017	110,930,873	110,930,873
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Shares issued (in shares)	8,442,191	8,442,191
Shares issued	$ 85,000	$ 85,000
Amortization of stock based compensation	454,000		454,000
Stock Granted, Value, Share-based Compensation, Forfeited	(33,000)		33,000
Shares issued arising from conversion of 3.25% convertible bonds due 2018	9,927,000		9,927,000
Adjustments to Additional Paid in Capital, Equity Component of Convertible Debt, Subsequent Adjustments	(11,029,000)		(1,096,000)					(9,933,000)
Shares issued arising from consideration paid on vessel acquisitions	57,960,000		57,960,000
Equity component of convertible bond issuance, net	7,905,000								7,906,000
Gain/(loss) on hedging financial instruments reclassified into earnings	(3,127,000)				(3,127,000)
Fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	(3,639,000)				(3,433,000)	(206,000)
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01 \| ASU 2016-01 [Member]					98,782,000		(98,782,000)
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01 \| ASU 2017-12 [Member] [Member]					0		0
Fair value adjustments to available-for-sale securities	0				2,244,000
Loss on marketable securities reclassified into earnings	2,244,000
Other comprehensive income/(loss)	(74,000)				(74,000)
Net income	73,622,000						73,622,000
Dividends declared	(149,261,000)						(149,261,000)
Ending Balance at Dec. 31, 2018	$ 1,180,032,000	$ 1,194,000	468,844,000	680,703,000	(220,000)	0	29,511,000
Ending Balance (in shares) at Dec. 31, 2018	119,373,064	119,373,064
Increase (Decrease) in Stockholders' Equity [Roll Forward]
Shares issued (in shares)	2,461	2,461
Shares issued	$ 0	$ 0
Amortization of stock based compensation	409,000		409,000
Stock Granted, Value, Share-based Compensation, Forfeited	(49,000)		49,000
Shares issued arising from conversion of 3.25% convertible bonds due 2018	0		0
Adjustments to Additional Paid in Capital, Equity Component of Convertible Debt, Subsequent Adjustments	(231,000)		(231,000)					$ 0
Shares issued arising from consideration paid on vessel acquisitions	0		0
Equity component of convertible bond issuance, net	0								$ 0
Gain/(loss) on hedging financial instruments reclassified into earnings	0				0
Fair value adjustments to hedging financial instruments	(11,648,000)				(11,648,000)	0
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01 \| ASU 2016-01 [Member]					0		0
Reclassification of unrealized losses upon adoption of ASU 2016-01 \| ASU 2017-12 [Member] [Member]					(32,000)		32,000.0
Fair value adjustments to available-for-sale securities	0				(296,000)
Loss on marketable securities reclassified into earnings	(296,000)
Other comprehensive income/(loss)	22,000				22,000
Net income	61,713,000						61,713,000
Dividends declared	(75,325,000)						(75,325,000)
Ending Balance at Jun. 30, 2019	$ 1,154,627,000	$ 1,194,000	$ 468,973,000	$ 680,703,000	$ (12,174,000)	$ 0	$ 15,931,000
Ending Balance (in shares) at Jun. 30, 2019	119,375,525	119,375,525

GAIN ON SALE OF ASSETS AND TERMINATION OF CHARTERS	6 Months Ended
GAIN ON SALE OF ASSETS AND TERMINATION OF CHARTERS	Jun. 30, 2019
Gain (Loss) on Disposition of Assets [Abstract]
GAIN ON SALE OF ASSETS AND TERMINATION OF CHARTERS	GAIN ON SALE OF ASSETS AND TERMINATION OF CHARTERS No vessels were sold or charters terminated during the six months ended June 30, 2019. In February 2018, the VLCC Front Circassia, which was accounted for as a direct financing lease asset, was sold to an unrelated third party. A loss of $1.4 million was recorded on the disposal, the proceeds of which included $17.9 million gross sales proceeds and compensation in the form of a loan note of $4.4 million at fair value was received for the early termination of the charter (see Note 15: Related party transactions). In May 2018, the container vessel SFL Avon, which was accounted for as an operating lease asset, was sold to an unrelated third party. Gross proceeds of $12.7 million were received on the sale, resulting in a loss of $0.2 million on disposal.

SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	6 Months Ended
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	Jun. 30, 2019
Subsequent Events [Abstract]
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	SUBSEQUENT EVENTS In July 2019, the Company acquired three feeder size container vessels ranging in size from 2,400-4,400 TEU. Upon delivery, the vessels immediately commenced six year fixed rate bareboat charters to an unrelated third party. In August 2019, the Company issued an additional NOK100million under its existing senior unsecured bonds due September 2023, equivalent to approximately $11 million, as a tap issue. The additional bonds bear the same interest coupon as the existing bonds and were priced at 101.625% of par value. The proceeds from the tap issue has been used for general corporate purposes. In September 2019, the Company announced an agreement entered into to acquire three 300,000 dwt VLCCs. One of these vessels has been delivered to the Company and the remaining vessels are currently under construction. Upon delivery, the vessels will commence their respective five year bareboat charter to an unrelated third party. In September 2019, an agreement was entered into with a charterer relating to the installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems on three 10,600 TEU container vessels on charter to them. These installations will be financed by the Company and recovered through increased charterhire. This will be carried out during the vessels’ next scheduled dry dockings and liability for these installations will remain with the charterer. In September 2019, stock options were exercised pursuant to the Company's Share Option Scheme. As a result, 15,785 new common shares will be issued. On August 20, 2019, the Board of Directors of the Company declared a dividend of $0.35 per share, which was paid in cash on September 23, 2019.

CAPITAL LEASE OBLIGATION, Obligations (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Other Liabilities Disclosure [Abstract]
Current portion of obligations under capital leases	$ 69,491	$ 67,793
Obligations under capital leases - long-term portion	1,071,661	1,104,258
Capital Lease Obligations	$ 1,141,152	$ 1,172,051

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES (Details)	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) tanker carrier	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Book value of assets pledged under ship mortgages	$ 1,650,000,000	$ 1,527,000,000
Number of vessels under capital lease obligations held as investments in direct financing lease assets	4
Number of vessels under capital lease obligations held as vessels under capital lease	7
Number of vessels under capital lease obligation	11	11
Long-term debt	$ 1,484,631,000
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term	312,660,000	$ 310,144,000
Seadrill [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Loans to related parties - associated companies, long-term	319,000,000.0	342,000,000.0
Equity Accounted Subsidiaries [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Long-term debt	645,918,000	655,186,000
Amount guaranteed by Ship Finance	266,100,000	266,100,000
Equity Accounted Subsidiaries [Member] \| Financial Guarantee [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Amount guaranteed by Ship Finance	266,114,000	266,114,000
Ship Finance Ltd and Equity Accounting Subsidiaries [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Long-term debt	2,100,000,000	2,100,000,000
Property not subject to direct financing leases [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Book value of assets pledged under ship mortgages	1,415,900,000	1,424,400,000
Property subject to direct financing leases [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Book value of assets pledged under ship mortgages	234,400,000	103,100,000
Assets Held under Capital Leases [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Book value of assets pledged under ship mortgages	1,305,500,000	1,331,100,000
Property subject to capital lease, held as vessels under capital lease asset [Domain]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Book value of assets pledged under ship mortgages	732,500,000	749,900,000
Property subject to capital lease, held as investments in direct financing lease assets [Domain]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Book value of assets pledged under ship mortgages	$ 572,900,000	581,200,000
Commitments for Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of container vessels	7
Number of Oil Tankers	4
Commitments for Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems [Member] \| Crude Oil Tankers [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of container vessels with amended charter terms	$ 8,500,000	3,400,000
Commitments for Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems [Member] \| Container vessels [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of container vessels with amended charter terms	43,100,000	$ 0
Commitments for Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems [Member] \| Containers for which lease amendments were made [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of container vessels with amended charter terms	$ 4
Commitments for Ballast Water Treatment System [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of Oil Tankers \| tanker	1
Number of drybulk carriers \| carrier	1
Commitments for Ballast Water Treatment System [Member] \| Crude Oil Tankers [Member]
Commitments and Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of container vessels with amended charter terms	$ 900,000