Liner company Ocean Network Express (ONE)'s potential order for a series of 23,000-teu boxships will be made without calling on the financial resources of its parent companies K Line, NYK Line and MOL.
The upcoming investment will perhaps be the clearest indication yet that the big three Japanese operators want their Singapore-based subsidiary to act as an independent enterprise, with its capital expenditure to be left off their balance sheets.
It is understood the decision to go ahead with the order — worth $2.4bn for up to six vessels — will be left to ONE chief executive Jeremy Nixon and his team of executives.
Late last year, Nixon made it clear to investors that ONE will have to fund any newbuildings out of its own coffers.
“Whether or not to own or charter ships, we are flexible to both models," he told analysts. "What is clear, however, is that any new ships that we own or charter for the long term would be on the balance sheet of our operating company in Singapore.
Shareholders
"In the future, our three shareholders will not be ordering or owning ships nor chartering them to us.”
ONE will not disclose whether it is going ahead with the order.
However, pundits believe it will do so as soon as it has conceded that larger vessels are giving its European rivals a distinct advantage.
ONE was established after K Line, NYK Line and MOL spun off their liner divisions to form the joint venture in 2018.
The three companies wanted to base their Tokyo-based businesses on long-term stable contracts to improve their balance sheets, but the liner business is by its nature short term and its earnings' performance volatile.
The trio also wanted to pursue asset-light strategies, which would reduce capital expenditure. However, investment in the containership business is highly capital intensive.
