A handful of secondhand containership sales have reactivated what has been the sector’s quietest sale-and-purchase market over the past two years.
But the failure to register a significant increase in values will worry the growing number of owners with vessels on the sales block.
Sellers including NSC Group of Germany, the UK’s Lomar Shipping and Formosa Plastics Marine Corp of Taiwan have found new homes for their older ships.
A pair of NSC-controlled boxships are confirmed to have been sold in what is thought to be a bank-related deal.
The 4,360-teu Bahia and Benito (both built 2009) were sold on private terms amid reports that the buyer is a US-based fund. The ships will remain in the hands of their current manager and are estimated to be valued at $13m to $14m each.
That is significantly more than the $11.45m fetched for the sistership Navios Felicitas (ex-Bonaire, built 2010) in December 2017.
But some suggest that a higher price for the NSC ships was achieved because it was a deal linked to Germany’s Commerzbank, which originally financed the vessels.
Another deal takes Formosa Plastics Marine closer to exiting the container sector. The Taiwanese owner is selling three more feeder boxships valued at between $5m and $6m each to China-based buyers, according to European brokers.
The vessels are the 1,114-teu FPMC Container 9 and FPMC Container 10 (both built 2009), as well as the 1,080-teu Formosa Container No 5 (built 2006). They have an estimated combined worth of $18m, according to VesselsValue.
Some suggest that a higher price was achieved in a deal linked to Germany’s Commerzbank, which originally financed the vessels.
Another deal takes Formosa Plastics Marine closer to exiting the container sector. The Taiwanese owner is selling three more feeder boxships valued at between $5m and $6m each to China-based buyers, according to European brokers.
The vessels are the 1,114-teu FPMC Container 9 and FPMC Container 10 (both built 2009), as well as the 1,080-teu Formosa Container No 5 (built 2006). They have an estimated combined worth of $18m, according to VesselsValue.
Formosa Plastics Marine sold three feederships earlier this year, and the latest sale — if confirmed — would leave it with one containership, the 938-teu Formosa Container No 4 (built 2007).
The deals point to a revival of activity in the container S&P sector after a two-month lull.
Some buyers that purchased at the bottom of the boxship market have cashed in on a rise in asset values in the first half of the year.
Lomar Shipping is close to selling the 2,496-teu Norfolk Trader (built 2002) for a reported $7.8m, around twice what it paid in early 2016 at the bottom of the market.
Despite the growing number of potential sales candidates, prices are not rising above last done.
Prices down 2%
The price of a 10-year-old, 4,400-teu narrow-beam boxship dropped 2% month on month to $13.3m at the end of August, according to Clarksons Research.
It attributes the fall to uncertainty over the direction of the charter market and concerns over US-China trade relations.
The uncertainty over second hand prices is also affecting feeder vessels. The 1,100-teu Oriental Bright (built 2007) was withdrawn for sale after failing to reach the $9m target price, Braemar ACM Shipbroking reported.
Just nine boxships were sold each month in July and August — the lowest monthly numbers since October 2016, Clarksons says. It lists the ships sold in that period as including the 2,556-teu Hammonia Emden (built 2006), bought by XT Shipping for a reported $12.8m.
