Leading boxship owner Seaspan has returned to the newbuilding market with an order for five 12,200-teu containerships.
The company is ordering the neopanamax vessels on the back of an 18-year time charter to an unnamed liner company.
It said the charters will bring approximately $910m of contracted cash flows over the period.
The newbuilds are to be financed from additional borrowings as well as cash-on-hand.
They are subject to vessel purchase obligations at the end of the charters.
The order is the first newbuilding project by the leading containership tonnage provider for nearly a decade.
Seaspan's last major order was in 2011 when the company initiated a series of 25 ships of the YZJ 10000 Saver Design.
The last ship in that series was the 10,101 teu CMA CGM Chennai (built 2018), an option on the original order that was exercised in April 2015.
No details of the yard or owner involved in the latest deal were given by Seaspan, which is part of New York-listed asset manager Atlas Corp.
But speculation is likely to fall on Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) which has done 18 years charter deals with Seaspan in the past.
Long-standing customer
Bing Chen, Seaspan's chairman, president and chief executive, said the newbuilding deal was made possible by the long-term charter with a long-standing customer.
"Executing a discreet newbuild opportunity to fulfil customer needs and achieve targeted returns is a win-win result," he said.
"Together, with our valuable customer, we were able to develop mutually beneficial business solutions while adding high value vessels to our fleet and expanding our contracted revenue base."
"Our execution of this transaction demonstrates the innovative solutions we deliver by leveraging our scale and best-in-class fully integrated service platform."
Seaspan's fleet consists 127 vessels of just over 1m teu.
In the past two years, it has expanded its fleet by acquiring a number of resales being sold by financially-struggling companies or their banks.
Seaspan is estimated to have spent over $1.1bn to purchase 15 ships since September 2019.
Its most recent purchases were the 11,923-teu Kota Petani and Kota Pemimpin (both built 2018), which were bought in September from Singapore-based Pacific International Lines (PIL) for about $176m in total.
These are employed charters to MSC and Hapag-Lloyd.
Seaspan's long-term contract backlog was valued at $4.6bn in August.
Its revenue forecast for the full year 2020 was estimated at between $1.19bn and $1.22bn, despite obtaining lower rates on charter renewals as a result of Covid-19.
