Boxship owner Seaspan Corp said it has placed orders for six neo-panamax containerships as it continues a spending spree that began late last year.
The leading tonnage provider signed a deal with a major shipyard to provide the 15,500-teu scrubber-fitted containerships.
The order takes the tally of newbuildings ordered by Seaspan to 37 ships, excluding two 24,000-teu vessels it acquired as resales in late 2020.
Seaspan, a subsidiary of New York Stock Exchange-listed Atlas Corp, will take delivery of its latest newbuildings in the second half of 2023 through to 2024.
The ships will then begin long-term charters with leading global liner operators, the company said.
Financing for the vessels will come from additional borrowing as well as cash on hand, it added.
37 and counting
The latest sextet will increase the size of Seaspan's fleet by 580,000 teu to 1.65m teu.
Seaspan, which has offices in Canada, Hong Kong and India, accounts for around one-third of containership orders for mainline ultra-large vessels, according to Alphaliner data.
Most are in the 10,000-teu to 15,000-teu category and are deemed “strategically important” by Seaspan management, which is headed by chief executive Bing Chen.
TradeWinds has reported that Seaspan returned to the shipbuilding market in November 2020, when it splashed out almost $450m on five 12,200-teu newbuildings at China’s Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.
These ships are due for delivery next year and are backed by secured 18-year employment with Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).
The company added to that in February, when it signed orders for two ultra-large containerships with Yangzijiang due for delivery in the first half of 2023.
The 24,000-teu vessels will run on conventional fuel and will be chartered to MSC as well.
Busy year
In February, Seaspan unveiled an order for 10 dual-fuel boxships of 15,000 teu at Samsung Heavy Industries estimated to be worth $1.4bn, to be chartered by Israeli carrier Zim.
The deal was for five firm vessels for delivery from 2023, plus options for five additional ships.
Seaspan's next move followed on 4 March with an order for a quartet of 12,000-teu boxships and another quartet of 15,000-teu boxships, with options to extend that with another four 15,000-teu units.
The vessels have been linked to charters with Japanese carrier Ocean Network Express.
Deliveries are scheduled for the second half of 2022 and will extend through the third quarter of 2023.
Seaspan ordered six more 15,000-teu boxships on 9 March in another deal thought to involve MSC and Yangzijiang.
