Israeli operator Zim is taking its tally of 7,000-teu boxships to be chartered from leading containership owner Seaspan Corp up to 15 ships.
The deal comes as Asiatic/Atlantic Lloyd (AL) shipowning group also confirmed it has doubled its tally of 7,100-teu containerships on order in China.
The agreements reflect growing interest from tonnage providers and liner operators in the intermediate boxship segment, where more than 80 vessels of around 7,000 teu could soon be on order.
Zim said it has exercised options worth $750m to charter five more of the LNG-fuelled vessels from the world's largest boxship tonnage provider.
Seaspan said the ships will be built at an unnamed yard for $530m.
They would operate under charters lasting a minimum of 12 years, the New York-listed tonnage provider added.
Zim: 40 or 50 ships
Zim’s contracts for five more 7,000-teu ships come on top of the 10 units the company agreed to charter from Seaspan in July.
The carrier is slated to take delivery of the first 10 vessels in 2023 and 2024 under the deals.
The five additional charters are expected in the third and fourth quarters of 2024.
"With this option exercise, we are securing Zim's core fleet needed to serve our operations and meet our customers' growing needs, while continuing to maintain our operational agility,” said chief executive Eli Glickman.
Zim executives told TradeWinds recently that the company could use more vessels in the segment.
“The 7,000-teu [vessels] are very relevant for all the trades we operate,” said chief financial officer Xavier Destriau. “Today we could require 40 to 50 ships of that size," he said.
"They are very suitable for our Atlantic services, for our Asia to South America, for Asia to West Africa and for replacement of extra-sailers from Asia to US.”
LNG-fuelling
Zim remains one of just three liner operators to have committed to LNG as a fuel, alongside CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd.
“This transaction demonstrates our deep commitment to the environment and to reducing our carbon footprint,” said Glickman.
“We continue to invest the resources necessary to be an industry leader and to prepare ourselves for the cleaner future of our industry.”
TradeWinds reported last month that Seaspan is poised to order up to two dozen more intermediate-size containerships at shipyards under the umbrella of shipbuilding conglomerate China State Shipbuilding Corp.
Such an order would fill what “used to be a gaping hole in the orderbook for midsized container tonnage”, analyst Alphaliner believes.
It would raise the pipeline of compact 7,000-teu designs from zero vessels in 2020 up to 79 ships, the analyst added.
Orders have also been placed recently by Singapore-based Sea Consortium and Hong Kong-based TS Lines, which booked eight vessels each.
Another Singapore-based owner, OM Maritime is also looking at possible newbuildings.
That helps the 7,000-teu segment “develop further into one of the market’s future standard classes”, said Alphaliner.
The Zim deal came as Singapore and Hamburg-based AL group has exercised options for two more vessels at China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC). That will leave the German-managed company with four 7,100-teu ships on order at DSIC.
Popularity pushing up prices
AL ordered its first two ships at the end of April for a reported $70m each, and since then prices quoted by shipyards have risen to around $80m per vessel, market sources said.
That is partly due to the increasing popularity of the wide-beam designs, sometimes referred to as neo-panamax handysize vessels.
“There’s quite a bit of ordering in this size, that’s good also in our point of view,” said Nicolaus Bunnemann, managing director of Hamburg-based AL.
“There’s a new size segment being created,” he said.
Ships ordered by the AL group are designed to be “ammonia ready”, meaning it will be possible to retrofit the vessels to be operated by the alternative fuel in the future.
Three are scheduled for delivery in 2023, with the fourth in 2024.
The AL group ships remain charter free, but recent fixtures suggest it will not be difficult to find employment.
Four 7,000-teu ships ordered by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping in June at New Times Shipbuilding have been fixed to French liner operator CMA CGM.
The vessels are understood to have secured eight-year charters at $42,500 per day with delivery in 2023 and 2024, according to market sources.
