A flurry of traditional panamax boxship sales have highlighted renewed buyer interest in the segment after a fall in vessel prices.
Names such as Borealis Maritime, Sinokor Merchant Marine and Celsius Shipping have all emerged as recent buyers of traditional panamax boxships.
And the circulation of more boxships for sale is likely to place further pressure on asset values.
The renewal in buying interest comes as charter fixtures point to a slight improvement in rates for panamaxes.
Rising rates
The 4,250-teu Spyros V (built 2011) is said to have been taken by French liner operator CMA CGM for up to four months at $10,750 per day.
The vessel is a sistership to the 4,250-teu Balthasar Schulte (built 2012), one of two classic panamax boxships now being circulated for sale from the fleet of Reederei Thomas Schulte.
The other sales candidate is a baby-panamax, the 3,653-teu Lilly Schulte (built 2012).
Six months ago, the 4,250-teu Argos (ex-Bruno Schulte, built 2012), a sistership to the Spyros V, fetched nearly $15m.
But prices have fallen sharply this year, and ships with slightly more vintage are being sold for less than $10m.
About a dozen traditional panamax boxships have been sold in recent weeks.
Buyers include Borealis, which has emerged as the new owner of the 4,255-teu Ambassador Bridge (built 2009) for which it paid about $9.2m.
The vessel is the third containership of this size that Borealis has purchased this year.
Value for money
Managing director Christoph Toepfer believes the sector offers good value now that prices have fallen and confirms that Borealis has sold the 2,496-teu Puccini (built 2003) as part of its fleet rejuvenation.
The Puccini is said to have been sold for $7.1m to Middle Eastern buyers.
Other buyers of classic panamax boxships are believed to include Sinokor.
K Line has cancelled charters for five 4,520-teu units built in 2010 to 2011 that were originally on 12-year charters
The South Korean buyer is understood to have purchased five traditional panamax boxships for between $9m and $10m each.
Sinokor swoops
Brokers name the ships as the 4,300-teu Astoria Bridge and Athens Bridge (both built 2009), the 4,500-teu Baltimore Bridge (built 2010), the 4,432-teu Brussels Bridge (built 2011) and the 4,738-teu Venice Bridge (built 2005).
Sinokor did not respond TradeWinds’ attempts to confirm the acquisitions.
Other sales are believed to include the 4,132-teu JPO Capricornus (built 2005). The vessel has reportedly been sold for around $8.6m to Celsius of Denmark with a charter to Maersk Line.
Buying interest comes as one leading Japanese liner operator appears to be scaling down its involvement in the traditional panamax sector.
K Line cancels
K Line has cancelled charters for five 4,520-teu units built in 2010 to 2011 that were originally on 12-year charters.
The Brotonne Bridge, Brevik Bridge, Bilbao Bridge, Berlin Bridge and Budapest Bridge had been fixed for periods of $34,500 per day.
That is more than three times the figure the vessels might earn in today’s market.
Other reported sales include the 3,398-teu Adelheid-S (built 2006) to buyers based in Germany.
Twelve-month charter rates for baby-panamax vessels of 3,500 teu and classic panamax vessels of 4,250 teu come to about $8,795 and $9,131 per day, compared with more than $11,000 per day a year ago, according to Germany’s New ConTex Index.
