Dalian Trawind Shipping has bought a second traditional panamax boxship.
The Chinese domestic operator has emerged as the buyer of the 3,739-teu Doukato (built 2002) from Nasdaq-listed Diana Containerships for around $6.1m, with delivery set for next month. Diana Containerships acquired the vessel in 2011 for $33m.
Dalian Trawind bought its first vessel in this class, the 4,990-teu Xin Feng Shang Hai (ex-Ernest Hemingway, built 2005), for $6.6m towards the end of last year.
The deal takes the Chinese owner’s fleet to six containerships from 2,000 teu up to 4,900 teu.
It includes relatively younger vessels such as the 2,539-teu Xin Feng Tian Jin (built 2015), which was delivered from Taizhou Maple Leaf Shipbuilding Co.
Chinese operators feature among the reduced number of boxship buyers in the container market, which has cooled after the relatively busy months of March and April.
Clarksons Platou reports a “standoff” between buyers and sellers in the traditional panamax boxship sector, “which is likely to result in prices weakening again”.
The shipbroker adds that a falling demolition price will contribute to any pressure on secondhand asset values, although the bigger impact will be the state of the charter market.
