New York-listed Navios Maritime Acquisition Corp has pushed ahead with the sale of more vessels inherited from a dissolved shipowning vehicle amid a surging containership market.
Athens-based brokers reported that the company, which is led by chief executive Angeliki Frangou, has sold the 1,700-teu sisterships Acrux N and Vita N (both built 2010) to China’s Goto Shipping for $9.5m each.
This is in line with estimates by Maritime Strategies International (MSI) that the ships are worth between $8.4m and $10.4m each.
The Acrux N and Vita N were built at China’s Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard and they are not known to have a special survey due anytime soon. Both are fitted with a ballast water treatment system.
The Acrux N is understood to have completed a medium-term time charter recently. According to Clarksons, Evergreen fixed the vessel for between six and nine months in March last year, for about $9,100 per day.
Piraeus-based Navios Acquisition, a spin-off of Frangou-controlled Navios Maritime Holdings, is primarily a tanker company.
However, last year, it took over seven containerships from Navios Europe II, a private special purpose vehicle dissolved by three Navios group shareholders: Navios Holdings, Navios Acquisition and sister company Navios Maritime Partners.
The company always said it would eventually sell those ships. It has already offloaded the 3,200-teu Allegro N (built 2014) for between $13.5m and $14.3m. The vessel has since emerged in the fleet of Denmark’s Celsius Shipping under its new name, GH Pampero.
Navios Partners reportedly sold the 3,100-teu Castor N (built 2007) last year to Mediterranean Shipping Co for $9m.
The remaining containerships that Navios Acquisition inherited from Navios Europe II are the 2,800-teu sisterships Fleur N and Ete N (both built 2012), the 2,500-teu Spectrum N (built 2009) and the 3,400-teu Solstice N (built 2007).
This story has been amended since publication to include the correct name of Maritime Strategies International.
