Swiss-headquartered container line Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) is set to increase its owned fleet by six according to an article published by Splash and The Loadstar.
Six new vessels
Clarksons, Allied, and data firm VesselsValue are all reporting that MSC has bought six post-panamax boxships controlled by Germany’s Zeaborn in an en bloc deal worth around $158m.
The vessels are the Hyundai Samho-built (2006) 8,200 teu ER Tianping, ER Tianshan, ER Tokyo, and ER Texas along with the Hyundai Ulsan-built (2004) 7,849 teu pair ER Vancouver and ER Yokohama.
All of the vessels, with the exception of ER Tianping, are already on charter to MSC according to Alphaliner.
Charter rates
Interestingly, MSC had the ER Texas under time-charter until June 2021 at $12,400 per day but was paying double that, $25,000 per day, for the ER Tokyo.
The Tianshan appears to be still under charter to Maersk at an undisclosed daily hire rate, but the fourth sister ship, Tianping, is under charter to Zim until March next year at a daily rate of $24,500.
Notwithstanding that MSC is taking on the role of the shipowner for the vessels that have attached charters to Maersk and Zim, its strategy is to insulate itself against skyrocketing charter rates and to support its aggressive growth policy with additional tonnage.
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Source: Splash, The Loadstar
