Norway’s Ocean Yield is not concerned by any charter risk related to its new container ships, despite a rate slump from recent all-time peaks.
The company, backed by US private equity giant KKR, took delivery of the 5,500-teu Zim Danube from HJ Shipbuilding & Construction in the third quarter, for a seven-year charter to Israeli line Zim.
The post-panamax is one of three methanol-fuelled container vessels owned by Ocean Yield that is delivering from South Korea this year.
Asked about any risk over charter payments, chief executive Andreas Rode told an earnings call: “We don’t have a habit of commenting on individual counterparties as such.”
“But what we can say is, generally for the liner companies, they’re all coming into this market downturn with very strong cash and liquidity positions. And this is also the case for Zim,” he said.
The CEO added: “Clearly, our assets are modern newbuilds with, I would say, very high fuel efficiencies.
“And we’re confident that these vessels will be in high demand also for the years to come. And I think this is also supported by the recent statements of Zim… in their recent Q3 report,” Rode said.
Ocean Yield chief financial officer Eirik Eide told the call that recent vessel financings have been “more or less” in line with what the company had done previously.
Nine newcastlemax bulker newbuildings are under construction for charters back to Belgium’s Compagnie Maritime Belge.
“I’m happy to also comment that for the newcastlemax dry bulk newbuildings, we see that we are able to drive down the cost of funds even further and get even more attractive financing than we have done previously,” the CFO said.
He also noted a “very positive” continuous influx of new banks to the company.
“I think we have…four [or] five banks that are basically increasing their appetite and being introduced to Ocean Yield as a new company recently. So I’m very happy with that,” Eide added.
