MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has again raided Germany’s NSB Group for its midsized boxship needs.
The Swiss liner giant has acquired the 6,627-teu container ships Paris II and Lyon II (both built 2001) in an en-bloc sale worth $40m, according to brokers.
The ships are the fifth and sixth in a series of NSB-managed vessels that have been picked up by MSC over the past 12 months.
Five of those have been acquired this year alone.
In February, the Geneva-based liner giant took over two vessels owned by financier Gebab that were also managed by NSB.
The 6,336-teu MSC Carouge (built 2007) and Buxwave (built 2006) were sold for an undisclosed price.
A third NSB-managed vessel, the 6,296-teu MSC Lausanne VI (built 2005), was sold in January for $19m with a dry-docking due this month, according to VesselsValue.
MSC kicked off its raid on the NSB fleet in April last year when it picked up the 6,078-teu Lisbon (built 2003) for around $22m.
That continued a monumental secondhand purchasing spree that has seen the liner giant acquire over 300 container ships since August 2020.
More recently MSC has been drip-feeding vessels into the demolition market.
The Gianluigi Aponte-owned company last week sold the 3,424-teu MSC Rossella (built 1993) to yards in Alang, India, for $530 per ldt, according to cash buyers.
It was the oldest of three classic panamax boxships operated in MSC’s services between the Middle East and the western Indian subcontinent.
In January, the 3,500-teu sister ship MSC Sophie (built 1993) was sold to a hand-picked recycling facility in India for strict green recycling.
