Italy’s Ignazio Messina is hiving off four giant conro vessels to Abu Dhabi Ports, in a deal said to be worth up to $400m.
The divestment means the Genoa-based company has sold all eight in a series of what are deemed to be the world’s largest conros.
The latest vessels sold are the 45,000-dwt, 6,350-lane-metre Jolly Titanio (built 2014), Jolly Cobalto, Jolly Palladio and Jolly Vanadio (all built 2015).
They have a capacity for 2,920 teu of containers and were built at STX Jinhai at a cost of less than $300m.
The Precious class vessels were ordered as a series of eight ships at South Korean yards between 2011 and 2015.
Ownership was later partly transferred to co-owner and partner Mediterranean Shipping Co, operating under the Roro Italia banner.
The first four vessels built at the former Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, rebranded Hanwha Ocean, were sold in recent months to US interests.
According to Italian media sources, sales of the remaining four were revealed in an internal communication whereby Ignazio Messina received an offer it could not refuse.
In an interview with Il Secolo XIX, chief executive Ignazio Messina said the proceeds of the sales would enable the company to expand and strengthen its financial side. The market would not be favourable in the next two years, he said, so strengthening the operation would enable it to navigate the market safely.
Messina added that his company is counting on expanding into the container sector following the delivery of two more vessels in October.
Still expanding
In May, it splashed out $28m per vessel to purchase the 4,400-teu Northern Promotion (built 2010) and Northern Priority (built 2009) to build up its container operation.
“We are counting on expanding: we would like to go on the market to get another four or six if conditions are favourable,” Messina told Il Secolo.
Messina’s exit from the conro sector began last year with the sale to US-based Liberty Maritime of the 6,350-lane-metre Jolly Diamante (renamed Liberty Power, built 2011) for a price variously reported at levels from $72m to $78m.
It followed that with the sale this year of three more vessels to the US Maritime Administration. That deal included the sales of the 2,920-teu Jolly Cristallo (built 2012) and Jolly Quarzo (built 2013) in a transaction that VesselsValue priced at $88m per ship.
Messina said his company was considering the possibility of building more roro vessels if slots could be found. These were likely to be smaller in terms of roro capacity but larger in terms of total load capacity, he said.
