Greece's Navios Maritime Partners has sealed another lucrative long-term container ship charter with Zim.
The US-listed owner has fixed out the 3,500-teu Navios Summer (built 2006) to the Israeli line for four years at $36,000 per day, Fearnley Securities said.
With fixed operating costs of $6,300 per day for the 3,000-teu to 3,500-teu panamaxes operated by Navios Ship Management, and a Fearnleys estimate of general and administrative costs of $1,300 per day, the contract will add $10.4m of Ebitda per year, the investment bank calculates.
Value rocketing
This compares with a purchase price of $8.3m back in 2017 when Navios Maritime Containers acquired the Rickmers Maritime fleet.
VesselsValue rates the ship as worth nearly $44m now.
Analysts Peder Nicolai Jarlsby, Erik Gabriel Hovi and Ulrik Mannhart said the deal could mean Ebitda of $42m over the full term.
This "eliminates any residual risk for the vessel which will be circa 20 years [old] at the end of the contract", they added.
Fearnleys is now estimating 93% contract coverage in 2022 for Navios Partners' 47 operational container vessels on the water.
In 2023, this figure is 69%, dropping to 51% in 2024 and 34% in 2025.
With another six 5,300-teu newbuildings backed by five-year contracts at $37,000 per day hitting the water in 2023 and 2024, the long-term coverage will improve further and ensure strong downside protection for the years to come, the analysts said.
Market cap does not reflect value
They believe Navios Partners now has a net asset value of $1.1bn for its boxships alone.
This exceeds the market cap of $344m by some distance.
When the 54 dry bulk carriers and 45 tankers are added in, the net asset value is $2.8bn, according to Fearnleys.
The analysts have a "buy" rating on the stock, and believe there is compelling potential for price rises on the back of a tanker recovery.
Earlier in January, the owner lined up more huge paydays by chartering the 4,308-teu Bermuda (built 2010) to Zim for between 46 and 50 months at $42,000 per day.
The fixtures come as Zim continues to expand its services in Asia using smaller vessels.
The carrier has announced the launch of a new service linking North China, South Korea and Australia that will deploy seven 1,350-teu vessels.
Zim also has recently fixed a number of smaller ships for longer periods.
These include the 1,700-teu Ophelia (built 2018), taken for three years at $35,000 per day, and the 966-teu Contship Pep (built 2006), fixed for two years at $22,000 per day.
