Zim has reportedly struck three-year deals worth $176m for a trio of intermediate container ships in time charters amid still robust period charter rates.
The New York-listed liner operator has chartered two of the ships from Greece's Costamare and a third from Germany's NSB Group, according to VesselsValue.
The intelligence provider's database shows that Costamare chartered the 6,644-teu Maersk Kingston and Maersk Kolkata (both built 2003) to Zim for $53,000 per day each, beginning in March.
The deal is certain to represent increased earnings for Costamare, which currently has the two ships on contract to AP Moller-Maersk.
Securities filings by US-listed Costamare show that the vessels earn a floating rate with a profit share that ranges from a minimum of $12,000 per day to a maximum of $25,000 per day.
VesselsValue said Israel-based Zim picked up the 6,078-teu Conti Stockholm (built 2000) at $55,000 per day from NSB.
That charter started on Tuesday.
The deal follows NSB chartering out its 6,078-teu Brussels (built 2000) to OOCL for the same rate, the data shows.
Period contract rates have held strong in the container ship sector despite the recent pullback in the freight market.
The Clarksons assessment for a three-year charter of a modern 6,800-teu ship stood at $72,500 per day on 3 December, the latest figure available. That was off from the peak of $73,250 per day at the height of the market in October but represents a nearly threefold increase compared with this time last year.
Zim's charters come after a string of secondhand deals in recent months.
But executives have made it clear that sale-and-purchase deals are the exception rather than the rule for the charter-focused company.
"For Zim, vessels are a means to achieve profitable growth and our primary strategy of chartering in the vast majority of our fleet, and this is unchanged," chief executive Eli Glickman told analysts in a conference call.
Zim, NSB and OOCL did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story, and a Costamare executive declined to confirm or deny the reports of the charters.
