Norwegian owner Torvald Klaveness is using the strong market to exit the boxship sector.
The Oslo-based shipowner has sold its last four sub-panamaxes for a price of around $120m en bloc.
The 2,546-teu Balao, Balsa and Ballenita (all built 2013) and Banak (built 2014) have been sold to an undisclosed buyer, according to brokers.
The price is around $12m more per vessel than what the Oslo-based shipowner obtained for a pair of sisterships five months ago.
In February, it sold the 2,500-teu Baleares and Bardu (both built 2014) to Borealis Finance for $18m each.
The company followed that up in May with the off-market sale of its two oldest boxships. The 1,700-teu Baro and 3,091-teu Barry (both built 2004) sold likely for about $10m each.
Torvald Klaveness has invested a total of $254m in eight containerships and hived off four of those earlier this year.
Good sign
The July deal for the remaining four 2,546-teu vessels points to the optimistic market view of the buyer, say brokers.
Only the Banak, which is ending a charter with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd at $10,500 per day, is scheduled for prompt delivery.
The other three ships are slated for delivery next year, including the Balsa, which is on charter to Japanese liner operator Ocean Network Express at $16,250 per day until August 2022.
Torvald Klaveness chief executive Lasse Kristoffersen confirmed that the company was “in firm negotiations for the sale of our last four container vessels”.
“But we are not in a position to comment on possible prices or buyers as this is confidential between buyer and seller,” he said.
Earnings from the company's containership fleet were weak in 2020 and only improved at the end of the year.
But Torvald Klaveness is set to book solid profits from the sale of all eight ships this year.
Last year, the shipowner had a pre-tax profit of $100,000 in 2020. That was an improvement on a loss of $30.7m in 2019.
Much of Torvald Klaveness' fleet is in the bulker segment, which represented 40% of its total revenue.
The company also holds a 53.8% stake in Oslo-listed Klaveness Combination Carriers, with 15 ships trading and two vessels on order.
