US liner company Seaboard Marine is believed to have chartered a pair of container feeder newbuildings being built for Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping.
The 1,800-teu vessels are under construction at South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, with deliveries in September this year and January 2024.
Hull numbers 4244 and 4255 have reportedly been fixed for periods of 24 months at a rate of $18,000 per day, according to Alphaliner.
The rate includes delivery of both ships in the Americas and an investment boost from their reefer intakes, the analyst said.
The move is the latest attempt by the Miami-based operator to modernise its fleet.
TradeWinds reported in June that the company had signed an order for two firm 1,450-teu feeder boxship newbuildings, plus an option for two additional vessels.
The LNG dual-fuel boxships will be built at Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering for around $35m each.
Fitted with MAN’s high-pressure dual-fuel main engine, they will be the world’s first to feature tri-lobe C-type fuel tanks.
Seaboard Marine also has three 3,500-teu dual-fuel LNG-powered units under construction at Taizhou Sanfu in China.
The trio, ordered late in 2021 for around $60m each, is slated to join Seaboard in the first half of 2024.
Seaboard Marine operates a fleet of 19 boxships with capacities ranging from 470 teu to 2,572 teu. It owns five container ships of between 974 teu and 2,564 teu. Four were constructed between 2006 and 2009 and one ship was built in 2011.
The charters are among a number of recent transactions involving boxships belonging to tonnage provider Eastern Pacific, which sold the 4,250-teu Jackson Bay (built 2007) for a reported $23m this month. It has been delivered to CMA CGM, which has bought 105 secondhand vessels since August 2020, according to Alphaliner.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, which has bought 318 ships over the same period, has continued its relentless expansion by buying three more vessels, Alphaliner added.
The 4,892-teu Zhong Gu Jiang Su (built 2010), 4,500-teu Maersk Launceston (built 2005) and 2,532-teu Sheffield (built 2003) have been sold to the Swiss carrier for an undisclosed price.
