Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has beaten off stiff competition to purchase another post-panamax boxship.

The Swiss liner operator is paying more than $27m to acquire the 8,236-teu YM Uberty (built 2008), according to brokers.

The vessel is one of the first post-panamax boxships of this size to have come on the market for several months.

Brokers describe strong interest in acquiring the YM Uberty due to a shortage of larger containerships available for charter.

"There were a number of interested buyers, but none could compete with the firepower from Geneva," said one broker.

In January, Taipei-based SinoPac sold the sistership YM Utopia (built 2008) to Greek shipowner Danaos for $28.3m.

In the absence of similar sales, values were estimated to have dropped to between $24m and $25m.

Leaseback provisions

Yang Ming this year booked provisions totalling almost TWD 1.39bn ($46m) relating to the sale-and-leaseback of the YM Uberty and YM Utopia.

The two vessels were ordered at Taiwan's CSBC shipyard in 2005 for $94m each when newbuilding prices were peaking.

Yang Ming later sold the ships in long-term leaseback deals in 2008 and 2009 to replenish its cash piles.

The deals came with buyback obligations that were negotiated based on the market conditions prevailing at the time.

Yang Ming declared those options would not be exercised in late 2019, as secondhand boxship prices were on a long-term decline.

It subsequently booked a TWD 1.08bn provision on the YM Uberty, which was on a 12-year charter to Bank of America that expired in August, as compensation for the US lessor.

It also booked a provision of TWD 311m for the loss of deposit related to the 10-year charter for YM Utopia with shipowner Morning Star, a single-ship vehicle that returned the vessel to its financial backer SinoPac Leasing.

The write downs on the two leasing deals led Yang Ming to undergo a major personnel reshuffle at the start of this year.