The Atlantic Lloyd/Asiatic Lloyd (AL) group of companies have parted ways with a pair of handysize boxships.
The German and Singapore-based companies have sold the 1,134-teu Asiatic Jade (built 2005) and Asiatic Glory (built 2006).
The vessels are worth around $4.7m each, according to Maritime Strategies International estimates, indicating an en-bloc price just short of $10m.
Atlantic Lloyd managing partner Nicolaus Bunnemann confirmed that the ships were sold recently.
The vessels have been bought by feeder service operator Orient Express Lines (OEL), part of the Transworld Group Singapore.
The first of the ships, renamed OEL Fortune, was delivered on 22 July, while a second ship has been renamed OEL Progress.
They are expected to be deployed on OEL’s feeder services connecting ports in Singapore, Malaysia and the India sub-continent.
OEL deploys the 1,134-teu Asiatic Neptune (built 2007), another sister ship chartered from Asiatic Lloyd, on the service.
Bunnemann said the vessels have a higher specification than standard 1100-teu vessels than enables the vessels to fetch a premium.
His company retains control of 13 ships of the same design built at the Sedef Gemi shipyard in Tuzla, Turkey.
Bunnemann also acknowledged that his company is also benefiting from its investments in the panamax box sector made in recent years.
That is a result of increased demand which Bunnemann believes is partly attributable to ships taken out of the charter market to be retrofitted with scrubbers
At least 31 container vessels are currently undergoing scrubber retrofits, according to Alphaliner estimates.
While many were initially expected to be out of service for just 30 days, many are said to be taking between 60 and 90 days, Bunnemann said.
The average time that each vessel spent at the yard is 52 days, Alphaliner said.
Around 550 vessels to be retrofitted, while another 218 new containerships will have scrubbers installed at delivery, it said.
The latest deal takes the fleet of OEL, which is controlled by Transworld Group Singapore, to 15 containerships from 1,000 teu to 1,700 teu.
Rates for vessels of this size have so far failed to benefit from the revival in the charter market for larger containerships.
The fleet of spot ships in the 1,000-teu to 1,249-teu sector has risen to 16 vessels, according to Alphaliner.
The idle containership fleet has risen to 138 vessels totalling 486,778 teu, up sharply from 336,241 teu a month ago.
The rise is due mainly to the increase in the number of ships entering shipyards for scrubbers.
