John Coustas-led Danaos Corp is said to be adding two container ships to its orderbook, lifting its on-order newbuilding tally to eight.
The New York-listed and Athens-based company has struck a deal with China’s Qingdao Yangfan Shipbuilding for the 5,900-teu vessels.
Shipbuilding sources said the 40-metre beam ice-class IA notation ships will be powered by conventional marine fuel and fitted with 1,150 reefer plugs. It is not known if the contract includes any optional ships.
“The design of Danaos’ newbuildings is the same as the boxships that Qingdao Yangfan is building for Belgian owner Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB),” said one source.
Danaos is said to be paying between $60m and $63m each for the vessels and is scheduled to take delivery in 2025.
The Qingdao Yangfan contract is Danaos’ third newbuilding deal since returning to the shipbuilding market last year — ending a 15-year hiatus.
The company’s first contract was with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC) in March 2022 for two 7,100-teu vessels.
It was reported to be paying just less than $80m each for the conventionally marine-fuelled methanol-ready vessels.
DSIC Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding — the subsidiary of DSIC will be building the ships for delivery in 2024.
Two months after ordering the boxships at DSIC, Danaos turned to South Korea’s DH Shipbuilding, previously known as Daehan Shipbuilding, for more vessels.
It contracted the Haenum-based shipyard to build four scrubber-fitted methanol-ready 7,200-teu ships at about $93m apiece with delivery next year.
Danaos has a fleet of 68 boxships.
Shipbuilding sources said Qingdao Yangfan will deliver its first-ever container ship, the 5,900-teu CMA CGM Masai Mara (built 2023), to CMB soon.
The vessel was part of the six-ship order that the Belgian owner inked in 2020 before the hike in steel plate prices and material costs. The company was reported to be paying just less than $50m each for the boxships.
Market sources said CMB sold the sextet to CMA CGM early last year when the market value of each ship was $78m — allowing the shipowner to pocket more than $168m in profit.
Qingdao comeback
Qingdao Yangfan was established in 2008 by Beijing-based industrials company Jianlong Group and state-owned Qingdao Huatong Group. The part state-owned shipyard stopped building vessels in 2016 after facing cash flow problems.
In 2018, the shipyard was bailed out by minority shareholder Qingdao Huatong Group after major shareholder Jianlong Group quit the yard.
After the bailout, Qingdao Yangfan completed two half-built newcastlemax bulkers that were originally ordered by Trafigura. The shipyard sold the duo — the 206,000-dwt Mineral Yangfan (built 2019) and Mineral Qingdao (built 2020) — to CMB subsidiary Bocimar for more than $50m each.
Qingdao Yangfan officially made a comeback to shipbuilding in late 2020, when CMB ordered the 5,900-teu newbuildings there.
