Euroseas has picked up two secondhand intermediate container ships from Seaspan Corp, further growing the active fleet to 18 vessels in a booming boxship market.
The Aristides Pittas-led owner has bought the 4,250-teu Seaspan Melbourne (built 2005) and 4,250-teu Seaspan Manila (built 2007) for $37m.
Both ships, which Euroseas has acquired initially with its own money, come with longterm charter deals.
The Melbourne is employed at $19,000 per day to March 2025, while the Manila is hired at $20,250 per day to April 2024, according to Euroseas’ website.
The Manila is further fixed to February 2025 at a Container Ship Time Charter Assessment Index-linked rate ranging from $13,000 per day to $21,000 per day.
These latest buys take the Euroseas fleet size to eight secondhand intermediates and 10 secondhand feeders, all of which are fixed at least to October 2022, some as far out to April 2025.
The fleet consisted of five intermediates and nine feeders just a year ago, before Euroseas sold five secondhand ships and began buying secondhand ships and ordering new ships.
The New York-listed, Athens-based owner, which was founded 17 years ago, also has seven feeder newbuildings on order to the second half of 2024.
Euroseas placed its first boxship newbuilding order in July 2021 by booking a pair of 2,800-teu vessels at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea, to be delivered in the first half of 2023.
Boxship spot rates have spiked to historic highs as a result of supply-chain disruption caused by Covid-19.
The average spot rate for the voyage from China to North America’s West Coast nearly quadrupled from late March to 13 September of last year to $20,586 per day, according to the Freightos Baltic Index.
That figure, which bounced up and down for weeks before becoming less volatile, came in at $16,346 per day on Tuesday after improving 16.2% from Friday.
