France’s CMA CGM has purchased its fourth boxship in less than a year from Greece’s Tsakos Shipping & Trading.
The French operator is acquiring the 2,826-teu Irenes Rainbow (built 2006), according to European brokers.
The Hyundai Mipo Dockyard-built vessel has been sold with delivery in August for around $45m.
The deal completes a quartet of transactions between the two companies over the past eight months.
Last October, CMA CGM bought the 2,826-teu sistership Irenes Respect (renamed CMA CGM Valparaiso, built 2006) for around $43m.
That vessel was sold six months after the sale of the 2,862-teu Irenes Reliance (built 2005) for just $16.1m to Regional Container Lines of Thailand.
The French line continued buying from Tsakos in December, snapping up the 6,039-teu Irenes Wave (built 2008) and the 2,553-teu Irenes Rose (renamed CMA CGM Montreal, built 2007).
Renewing fleet
The deals leave Tsakos with just five container ships in the 2,800-teu to 3,800-teu range.
However, the company has been actively renewing its fleet with orders for ships of this size and deliveries next year through to 2025.
Tsakos recently increased its tally of 2,800-teu Chittagongmax vessels under construction in South Korea to 10 ships.
In May, the owner placed orders for four conventionally fuelled container ship newbuildings with Hyundai Heavy Industries. The quartet is said to cost $47m each.
The company has another six vessels under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which like HHI comes under the umbrella of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering.
The first two vessels were ordered just over a year ago for a reported price of $37m each, while four newbuildings were inked early this year at about $42m apiece.
Tsakos still controls two of the older 2,800-teu designs, the Irenes Remedy (built 2006) and Irenes Rhythm (built 2007).
These vessels are 222.3-metres long and 30-metres wide (12 rows), according to Alphaliner.
The newer 2,800-teu design is a more compact ship with a length of only 186 metres and a breadth of 35 metres (14 rows).
The orderbook for HHI’s new 2,800-teu type now stands at 20 units, including 10 ships for Tsakos, six for Greece’s Euroseas and four for Sinokor Merchant Marine of South Korea.
