Germany’s Offen Group has offloaded one of its neo-panamax container ships to French liner giant CMA CGM in a deal estimated to be worth more than $50m.
The 11,020-teu CMA CGM Vela (built 2008) was sold after the French charterer declared a purchase option on the vessel after 16 years of operation.
The ship is understood to have fetched a “very firm” price close to its estimated market value of around $54m.
That would reflect an increase of around 12.5% in price since December, according to VesselsValue estimates.
While the Hamburg-based shipowner has not been averse to selling smaller container ships deemed non-strategic, its larger container vessels are rarely sold.
Yet the sale of the CMA CGM Vela does not reflect a shift in strategy, TradeWinds understands. There appears to be no plan to start selling more of the Offen fleet of around 30 large container ships.
The CMA CGM Vela was originally part of the fleet of Conti Reederei, the Munich-based KG (limited partnership) financier, which Offen acquired in 2017.
It was the final vessel within the Conti fleet for which charterers held a purchase option.
No charter options are held on the other six former Conti vessels of 8,463 teu that were built in 2005 and 2006.
These are operated by Geneva-based MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and Japan’s Ocean Network Express.
Unexpected bounty
Offen’s fleet is enjoying an unexpected resurgence in the container charter market in recent months, said market sources.
Only six months ago, it was considered unlikely that charterers would have sought to exercise a purchase option on the Offen container ship, TradeWinds understands.
But competition between liner operators for secondhand boxships has pushed up demand for vessels with prompt delivery.
The CMA CGM Vela, originally the Conti Jupiter, was the first 10,000-teu-plus vessel in the fleet of the French carrier.
The fleet includes three sister ships: the CMA CGM Thalassa (built 2008), CMA CGM Hydra and CMA CGM Musca (both built 2009).
The ships were ordered by CMA CGM in May 2005 at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, since rebranded as Hanwha Ocean.
The second in the series, the CMA CGM Thalassa, was sold to tonnage provider Global Ship Lease and chartered back by the French line.
