Atlas Corp-owned Seaspan Corp has added to its Ebitda backlog with more long-term container ship charters to Israeli carrier Zim.
The 4,526-teu Seaspan Chiba and Seaspan Kobe (both built 2011) have been fixed at $43,000 per day over five years, Alphaliner reported.
This will add about $100m of Ebitda backlog for the Canada-based giant, Fearnley Securities calculated.
The vessels were previously booked by Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE) for two years and three months, and a year and eight months, respectively.
Fearnley Securities added that the rates are significantly improved from previous commitments of around $20,000 per day.
But the numbers are still “somewhat” below market expectations for the wide-beam vessel class and more in line with smaller 4,300-teu narrow-beam ships, where five-year deals are now being quoted around similar levels.
Zim is proving one of the more aggressive players in the charter market.
The revitalised carrier has committed to long-term charters of more than 40 vessels, including ships of 7,000 teu and 15,000 teu, from leading tonnage providers such as Seaspan, Navios Group, Eastern Pacific Shipping and Regional Container Lines.
And in March, the carrier and German tonnage provider MPC Capital struck a $600m charter deal for six wide-beam container ships.
The New York-listed liner operator will take the 5,500-teu vessels on seven-year charters.
More newbuildings coming
In May, Seaspan returned to the newbuilding arena with a deal for four dual-fuel LNG container ships.
The company said the 7,700-teu vessels are due from a “major shipyard” in the third and fourth quarters of 2024.
No price has been given for the contracts.
Seaspan said a leading global liner company will charter the ships on delivery, with purchase obligations at the end of the terms.
The charters will add $950m of revenue.
