Three European shipowners have collectively put together $270m of feeder boxship newbuilding deals.
German tonnage providers Nordic Hamburg and USC Barnkrug, as well as Norwegian owner Arne Blystad, have separately inked deals for up to nine feederships costing more than $30m each, according to industry sources.
Nordic Hamburg and USC are believed to be ordering up to seven 1,380-teu containerships at Chinese builder Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Ship Industry.
The orders costing $210m in total are expected to be delivered in 2023 and 2024.
Similarly, the privately owned interests belonging to Blystad have inked a deal for two 1,800-teu ships at Huanghai Shipbuilding, with deliveries starting towards the end of next year.
The move reflects growing interest in the small boxship sector that is witnessing a sharp recovery in charter earnings and asset prices.
But the shipowners appear to be taking different approaches to employment with all-but-three of the vessels being booked without charters attached.
10-year charters
The Nordic Hamburg order has been placed on the back of a 10-year-charter with Rotterdam-based BG Freight Line, broking sources said.
Two of the high-reefer vessels are slated for delivery in 2023 and a third in 2024.
The ships are expected to be deployed on freight services between Ireland, the UK and Europe.
That has echoes of a similar deal that saw BG Freight take four smaller 1,000-teu vessels on charter from German owners in 2017 and 2018.
Nordic Hamburg did not respond to a request for comment, and the yard could not be reached.
USC and associated company Elbdeich Reederei are understood to have signed a letter of intent to take up to four ships of the same design.
The ships are likely to be delivered in 2023 and are not thought to have charters, although USC and Elbdeich Reederei managing partner Peter Frese was unable to comment on the deals.
“We are looking at different projects at the moment in order to see what can make sense in the current market environment," said Frese.
“We are always interested in opportunities in the feeder segment, especially for the North Sea and the Baltic, be it secondhand ships or newbuildings.”
The ice-class 1A vessels ordered by the German owners will be fully fitted to carry larger 45-foot containers in place of standard 40-foot equivalent units.
The larger container holds mean that the dimensions of the vessels are closer to a ship of 1,700 teu, brokers said.
Nordic Hamburg has ordered the vessels using German container broker Arkon Allied Container. Sources said another Hamburg-broking house, Andreas J Zachariassen, brokered the USC deal.
The ships are reported to have designs developed by Netherlands-based ship designers SMB Naval Architects & Consultants.
Drochtersen-based Elbdeich Reederei has been expanding its fleet in the secondhand market this year.
In February, the company acquired three feedermax vessels of 1,036 teu including the Wes Amelie and Wes Carina (both built 2011) and Wes Janine (built 2012).
Blystad invests
The move marks a continued investment by Blystad in his privately-owned container fleet.
The Norwegian owner appears to have made the move into container newbuilding just a few weeks after selling out of Oslo-listed Songa Container where the shipowner was the leading shareholder.
Sources close to Blystad said the 1,800-teu vessels are scheduled for delivery from Huanghai at the end of 2022 and 2023.
They are thought to be standard Bangkokmax designs and are thought to be placed through a company formed earlier this year called Songa Box, which is 100% owned by Blystad.
Blystad is building up a privately-held container shipping portfolio after the sale on 22 June of Songa Container to MPC Container Ships (MPCC).
MPCC bought Songa Container with its 11-ship remaining fleet for $210.5m in cash and shares.
Since then, Blystad has also acquired three small containerships.
TradeWinds reported that Blystad's private interests had picked up the 2,872-teu Robin 1 (built 2009), the 1,740-teu Hansa Falkenburg (built 2008) and 3,091-teu Barry (built 2004).
Shandong-based Huanghai is proving an increasingly popular yard for this size of boxship.
In July, Germany's Briese Schiffahrt exercised options for two 1,800-teu vessels at the privately owned yard, where it has four ships under construction.
Other German owners also investing in feeder boxships include Vega Reederei, which in May placed orders for four 1,868-teu containerships with Zhejiang-based Yangfan Group.
