Germany's Reederei Nord is profiting from the soaring container market with the sale of its tenth container ship this year.
The Hamburg-based company is selling the 1,774-teu Nordamstel (built 2019) in a market that managing director Kurt Klemme describes as the highest seen in 50 years of container shipping.
Price is believed to be in line with similar sales at around $40m, although terms and the buyer are not disclosed.
That would point to a near doubling of values in the two years since Nord acquired the Nordamstel and the sistership Nordmaas (built 2019) in the summer of 2019.
Nord and a private equity partner reportedly paid less than $50m en bloc for the vessels, which were originally ordered by UK-based Lomar Shipping at Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding in China.
The company has opted to retain the Nordmaas in its fleet and plans to fix out the vessel on long-term charter.
The expectation is that the vessel will secure a three-year charter rate of over $30,000 per day.
Double figures
Nord, which is owned by Christian and Nikolaus Oldendorff, retains a diverse fleet of around 40 vessels, including aframax tankers, chemical and product carriers and bulkers.
But the company has scaled down its boxship fleet from 26 container ships in 2019 to around 13 today of 1,700 teu to 3,500 teu.
The company intends to keep around one-third of the container fleet, Klemme said.
The intention is to place those vessels on long-term charter while waiting for container shipping markets to cool, when new opportunities may emerge.
"Shipping is cyclical and we will certainly see a market correction again in two or three years," said Klemme.
"The liner companies and others have placed orders for about a quarter of the container fleet. There might be an opportunity again in 2024," he said.
Nord has cashed in on the staggering rise in boxship prices.
Its last sale was that of the 2,506-teu Nordmarsh (renamed CMA CGM Abu Dhabi, built 2018) which was bought by France's CMA CGM in July.
A month earlier, Nord hived off the 2,478-teu sisters Nordatlantic and Nordbaltic (both built 2003) to Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).
