Eastern Pacific Shipping has reached a deal worth an estimated $730m with CMA CGM that secures long-term employment for five of its 15,000-teu boxship newbuildings on order at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in South Korea.
Boxship market sources said Eastern Pacific, which currently has two vessels on charter to CMA CGM, has strengthened its relationship with the French containership giant by chartering out the neo-panamax vessels for 10 years.
They added that the 15,000-teu newbuildings, which are part of an order for 11 vessels, are due to roll out of the dry dock this year and 2020.
“These five ships are the ones that will be installed with scrubbers,” a market source said.
The charter rate for the the deal is not disclosed, but boxship players suggest CMA CGM is paying around $40,000 per ship per day.
An official at Eastern Pacific said his company does not comment on market reports.
Array of interest
A boxship market source added that a few liner operators are in talks with Eastern Pacific to charter its remaining six newbuildings at Hyundai Samho. In addition to CMA CGM, Maersk Line of Denmark, Germany's Hapag-Lloyd and Orient Overseas Container Line of Hong Kong are understood to be interested.
“These six vessels are due for delivery in 2020 and 2021, and they would be dual-fuel vessels equipped to run on LNG,” the market source said.
Eastern Pacific signed up for the 11 containerships between 2017 and 2018, at the low point in the newbuilding market.
The company was estimated to be paying around $105m each for the scrubber-fitted boxships and more than $120m for the dual-fuel vessels. The current shipbuilding price for scrubber-fitted boxships of similar size is said to be about $125m today, and the price for dual-fuel units is between $140m and $150m.
“Newbuilding prices have gone up quite a bit because shipyards have received enough orders to cover their overhead costs. They are now going for profit making deals,” said one shipbuilding player, who added that rising steel prices are also impacting prices.
For CMA-CGM, the charter deal adds to a growing book of owned and chartered newbuildings
