Carried by the impetus of last year's big financial restructuring, Greek containership company Danaos Corp has bought its third large containership in the space of just five months.
The Piraeus-based outfit has acquired the 8,200-teu SM Charleston (built 2005) for $23.5m, local market sources say.
The ship was one of five vessels that SM Lines of Korea offered for sale late last month.
With several buyers expressing interest, the ships were expected to shift quickly, as TradeWinds reported at the time.
UK-based brokers on Friday linked Korea’s KMTC to the purchase of the 6,500-teu sisterships SM Seattle and SM Hong Kong (both built 2008) for about $20.5m each.
New moves
New York-listed Danaos declined to comment on claims that it has bought the SM Charleston.
A purchase, however, would be very much in line with recent company policy.
Following completion of its debt restructuring, under which Danaos gave a 47.5% stake to lenders to obtain a $550m debt relief, the company has been pouncing on post-panamaxes with a capacity of about 8,000 teu.
Danaos is known to like ships of that size. It regards them as workhorses of international trade, offering large capacity while still being able to be employed on a wide variety of routes.
Bigger boxships, in contrast, are usually constrained to operating between Asia and Europe.
Danaos has already confirmed buying two such ships since October: the 8,200-teu YM Utopia (built 2008) from Taiwan’s Yang Ming, as well as the 8,000-teu Conti Champion (built 2005).
It is estimated to have spent more than $50m on these acquisitions.
John Coustas-led Danaos has fixed both ships on two-year charters since and expects these deals to boost its Ebitda operating profit by $12m annually.
Taking the Danaos group as a whole, Coustas' acquisition drive also includes a fourth post-panamax ship: the 8,500-teu Parsifal (built 2006), which Danaos’ private affiliate Gemini Shipholdings purchased in June last year for about $25m.
Reflecting on the coronavirus
Coustas' latest acquisition of the SM Charleston provides tangible proof that the Greek owner is not overly concerned that the coronavirus outbreak could cause lasting damage to the world economy.
In Danaos’ latest financial earnings release on 10 February, Coustas said that the long-term fundamentals of container shipping remain intact, the virus notwithstanding.
“The market will continue to rebalance itself through a combination of moderate trade growth, slowing fleet growth and a reduction in vessel speeds due to new and ongoing environmental initiatives,” said Coustas, who is also Danaos' chief executive.
Market sources following Danaos closely are telling TradeWinds that they wouldn't be surprised if the company continues buying ships in the near future.
Several other big Greek companies and owners have been making rare containership buys in recent weeks, including Thenamaris and the Embiricos family.
