Greek and German groups have emerged as the new owners of five AP Moller-Maersk boxships sold in controversial sale-and-leaseback deals.
The Danish owner sold the Dutch-flagged vessels — comprising the 2,890-teu Maersk Penang, 2,902-teu Maersk Palermo, 6,690-teu Maersk Kalmar and Maersk Kimi (all built 1998), and the 6,802-teu Maersk Kampala (built 2001) — and chartered them back under different registers.
The Maersk Kimi and Maersk Kalmar have gone to Technomar of Greece, while the Maersk Kampala has been acquired by Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, according to consultancy Alphaliner and valuation platform VesselsValue.
The Maersk Palermo and Maersk Penang have been acquired by Conbulk Management of Greece.
No prices have been disclosed.
End of an era
The ships were the last Maersk ships flagged in the Netherlands following the group's takeover of P&O Nedlloyd in 2005.
Alphaliner called the vessels "the last visible remnant" of the Anglo-Dutch carrier.
The company added that the moves to reflag to Liberia and the Marshall Islands sound like "a second death" for P&O Nedlloyd.
"Much of P&O Nedlloyd's identity and soul had, however, already vanished, with all vessels dropping the P&O Nedlloyd prefix in favour of Maersk," Alphaliner said.
The sales have "buried the legacy for good", the company added.
Officer dispute
The sales stirred up a hornets' nest among officers on the vessel, as TradeWinds reported earlier this month.
Talks were continuing between Maersk and 24 Dutch seafarers who claim their job security is at risk.
The new owners supplied their own crew, with the Maersk staffers being offered the same terms as Danish seafarers after redeployment.
The Danish shipping giant said 63 Dutch seafarers were affected by the sales. But 38 captains and chief officers have been re-employed within the Maersk group.
There are 24 other chief officers and second engineers who have been offered alternative employment by Maersk. But they claim that acceptance of Danish employment terms would involve a 30% pay cut and loss of pension and other welfare benefits.
"We have also proposed an alternative employment solution for the chief officers and second engineers to enable them to continue their career with Maersk on the broader DIS [Danish flag] fleet," the company told TradeWinds.
