Boxship owners are spoilt for choice when it comes to investing cash banked in red-hot markets.
Clarksons Platou Securities said the varying approaches shown by Atlas Corp, MPC Container Ships (MPCC) and others highlight the "differentiation" in commoditised shipping sectors.
"Containership owners have become flush with cash, reduced leverage materially and have gained access to capital much more so than in recent years," analysts Frode Morkedal and Omar Nokta said.
"Given the healthy backdrop of the sector, there have been numerous opportunities to invest capital."
The analysts said it was interesting that the five containership owners the Norwegian investment bank covers have invested in "fairly separate ways".
Aggressive expansion
New York-listed Atlas Corp, owner of Seaspan Corp, has been very aggressive over the past seven or eight months, placing 55 newbuilding orders against long-term charters and cementing its market position as the leader among independent shipowners.
The company's market share equates to 10% currently, but would jump to 13% taking into account its newbuildings, Clarksons Platou said.
Meanwhile, another New York-listed owner, Global Ship Lease (GSL), has been active buying secondhand tonnage, with 23 ships acquired so far this year at a cost of $500m.
The analysts said the deals were done at decent prices given values have continued to rise.
"The ships have come with initial charters in place that significantly reduce the investment to near scrap values," Morkedal and Nokta added.
The latest purchase saw GSL add four high-reefer units from Germany’s Peter Dohle Schiffharts.
Buying the company
Oslo-listed MPCC decided to buy a whole company instead, agreeing to take over Arne Blystad's Songa Container in June.
This involved 11 ships in a $210m transaction.
Clarksons Platou believes the takeover will bolster MPCC's market position in the sub-3,000-teu segment, just as that market has strengthened in terms of charter rates and duration.
Greek owner Danaos pulled off a deal to buy six vessels for $260m earlier in July.
The investment bank said the New York-listed company had been unwilling to "chase" values higher, but found an opportunity to acquire modern eco-design vessels at heavily discounted prices due to their below-market charters.
This gave Danaos a low entry price, but also optionality on sustained market levels.
Athens-based Danaos did not identify the ships, other than to say that they consist of a 5,466-teu sextet built at Hanjin Subic Shipyard with an average age of 6.8 years.
Oaktree selling?
Broking sources in Athens said the vessels may have been sold by the Green Containership Group, an Oaktree Capital Management-controlled platform that owns eco-designed, wide-beam boxships delivered in 2014 and 2015.
Compatriot owner Costamare chose a different path altogether, moving capital away from boxships and into dry bulk vessels, where rates have also been climbing.
The company has bought 28 bulkers from scratch, with more seemingly on the way, the analysts said.
The New York-listed company has assembled a dry bulk fleet with a capacity of about 1.5m dwt via secondhand purchases. Only three of the vessels have been delivered.
These ships include a trio of supramaxes from Olympic Shipping & Management, a pair of kamsarmaxes from Safe Bulkers, one kamsarmax from Japan’s Shunzan Kaiun and a handysize from interests linked to Greek peer Constantinos Krontiras.
