Sea Consortium (Seacon) of Singapore is taking its spend on secondhand feederships this year to over $100m.
The Singapore-based company is paying $39m to acquire the 1,762-teu Feeder 1 (built 2021) from Meratus Line of Indonesia, according to European brokers.
It is the fourth vessel in the handysize boxship sector that the container shipowner has acquired this year, albeit at ever escalating prices.
In August, Seacon paid a reported $25m to buy the 1,674-teu Gerrit Braren (built 2006) from German owners.
That followed the purchase in March of two Topaz-type handysize boxships from Reederei Nord for an en-bloc price of $38.5m.
The 1,756-teu X-Press Nilwala (ex-Nordviolet, built 2015) and X-Press Mahaweli (ex Nordlily, built 2016) are operated by Seacon subsidiary X-Press Feeders, which is among the world's largest independent feeder carriers.
The Feeder 1 is one of two scrubber fitted vessels that Meratus has taken into its fleet this year.
The Surabaya-headquartered company took delivery of the second vessel, the 1,762-teu Feeder 2 (built 2021), in May.
The vessel currently operates in the intra-Asia services for Maersk-subsidiary Sealand Asia.
The ship was the 18th unit in a series of Bangkokmax ships built at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Cosco Guangdong shipyard.
Most were ordered by London-based Lomar Shipping, which sold many of the ships prior to their delivery.
Meratus and Seacon contacted for comment.
Prices pushing higher
Prices for handysize containerships are continuing to push higher due to a shortage of vessels available in the charter market.
Brokers also report that the $32m sale of an unnamed 1,700-teu vessel (built 2010) has failed because the owners are confident of securing a higher price later in the year.
The strong sentiment is partly a result of ever higher and longer charter rates, particularly for eco-designs.
That is reflected in the fixture of the Eastern Med Maritime-owned, 1,705-teu San Lorenzo (built 2014) for three years with Cosco-controlled OOCL at a net rate of $35,000 per day.
Time-charter rates for 1,700-teu designs have surged from $7,641 per day in September 2020 to $46,338 per day this week, according to the New ConTex assessment.
Rates for periods of up to six months are more than 700% higher at $60,254 per day.
Meratus and Seacon were contacted for comment.
Besides secondhand acquisitions, Seacon has been active on the newbuilding front this year.
It has eight 7,000-teu containership newbuildings on order at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS).
The company also has three newbuildings of 3,100 teu under construction at Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard for delivery in 2023.
