Seaspan Corp is continuing its remarkable buying spree by snapping up another pair of neo-panamax containerships.

The leading tonnage provider has acquired two 15,000-teu scrubber-fitted containerships to be delivered in the second quarter of the year.

The move takes its tally in a three-month buying spree to 19 ships of between 12,200 teu and 24,000 teu.

Seaspan describes the latest acquisitions as 2019-built vessels acquired on long-term charter "with a long-standing global liner customer".

"This transaction further demonstrates our consistent quality growth through our creative customer partnerships despite the market cycles,” said chief executive Bing Chen.

Seaspan did not name the ships, but there are only four vessels matching their description in the Alphaliner database.

All are Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries-built vessels owned by Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping.

The scrubber-fitted vessels operate on long-term charters to France’s CMA CGM.

They are valued at around $120m each, according to MSI Horizon estimates.

Fearnley Securities estimated the cost at $125m each.

The investment bank said the deal implies an "immediate dilutive" net interest bearing debt/Ebitda contribution when assuming debt funding of between 70% and 80% of the bill, and charter rates of between $40,000 and $50,000 per day.

However, Fearnley emphasised that the same assumptions imply an accretive contribution after three to four years of the contracts, in addition to valuable backlog additions, fleet renewal and growth.

Fearnley has a buy rating on the stock.

“Seaspan's fleet composition is optimised with each new vessel, enabling us to provide our customers with more scale, efficiency, flexibility and reliability,” said Chen.

“The additions of these high-quality vessels also extend our long-term contracted revenue profile."

Takes tally to 19 acquisitions

Seaspan, a subsidiary of New York Stock Exchange-listed Atlas Corp, is already the largest boxship tonnage provider and is emerging as one of the most aggressive buyers.

“Together with our recent large number of upcoming newbuilds, we continue to consistently drive quality growth while further differentiating our fully-integrated service offerings and resiliency of our business model,” Chen said.

In February, the company placed orders for 10 dual-fuel newbuildings for charter to Israeli container line Zim. Those ships are on order at Samsung Heavy Industries for delivery in 2023 and 2024.

In the same month, the company placed orders for two 24,000-teu boxships with Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to be delivered in the first half of 2023.

Those are the largest ships in Seaspan’s fleet to date and are chartered for 18 years to Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).

That deal followed an order in December for five 12,200-teu vessels for delivery this year and 2022. Those ships will also operate on long-term charters with MSC.

Seaspan, which has offices in Canada, Hong Kong and India, is the world's largest independent owner of containerships.

It currently owns a fleet of 127 vessels on the water with a combined total capacity of more than 1m teu and contracted revenue of $4.1bn.