Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has snapped up a 17-year-old vessel for the price it was ordered for two decades ago.
The Swiss liner operator is paying between $42.5m and $44m to acquire the 4,992-teu Kowloon Bay (built 2004) from Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping, according to broking sources.
That is only slightly less than it cost when it was contracted at Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2002.
The price reflects the stunning rise in values for classic panamaxes, with similar tonnage going for even greater values.
Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is selling the 4,255-teu Hawk Hunter (built 2009) for $45m to a German buyer with a charter to a major line.
That is about twice what it obtained for the 4,563-teu sistership Hobby Hunter (built 2009) earlier in the year.
CMB has sold five classic panamax boxships since last December at gradually escalating rates.
The sales come at a time when the charter market continues to defy gravity.
BAL Container Line is reported to have fixed the 4,578-teu CO Osaka (built 2008) for two months at an astonishing $125,000 per day.
The Hong Kong-based liner arm of Shandong Lcang International Logistics was already linked to the short-term fixture of the 5,060-teu S Santiago (built 2006) at more than $100,000 per day.
Some observers suggested that rates as high as $150,000 per day are being contemplated.
Period charters for traditional panamax boxships of around 4,250 teu stretch to four years at about $40,000 per day.
Slightly larger vessels such as the Technomar-controlled, 5,551-teu Tonsberg (built 2001) have secured charters for five years with CMA CGM at $45,000 per day
MSC remains the most active player in the containership sale-and-purchase market, where it has been buying dozens of ships since September 2020.
It is understood to have been behind last week’s purchase of the 4,250-teu Alabama (built 2010) for $35m, one of three vessels acquired from Norway’s Awilco Container since April.
In the smaller sizes, MSC is said to have paid about $19m for the 2,490-teu Oregon Trader (built 2006) and $24m for the 2,702-teu X-Press Khyber (built 2007).
That has helped lift its capacity to beyond the 4m-teu mark for the first time, with more than 604 ships, according to Alphaliner, which estimates the company has bought more than 60 secondhand containerships in 10 months.
“The extraordinary expansion of MSC’s owned fleet in the past months is unprecedented in the history of container shipping, with no carriers having ever tapped the secondhand market on such a scale,” the analyst said.
MSC faces competition in the secondhand market from other liner operators, including its 2M partner Maersk, which is said to have taken over three sub-panamax boxships for $67.5m en bloc from Germany’s Hartmann Schiffahrts. They are the 2,824-teu Frisia Goteborg (built 2006), Frisia Oslo and Frisia Amsterdam (both built 2007).
Maersk is also said to have picked up the 3,646-teu Hansa America (built 2014) from Germany’s Leonhardt & Blumberg for about $30m.
“End users continue to compete for the very few vessels giving prompt charter-free delivery, leaving owners in the enviable position of deciding between ever healthier prices from the S&P market and very attractive rates from the charter market,” said shipbroker Clarksons.
