New York-listed owner Danaos Corp has secured $450m of financing for eight new container ships being built in South Korea and China.
London-headquartered law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) said it had advised the Greek owner on the deal with a syndicate of “four major shipping banks”.
Rival law firm Norton Rose Fulbright later said it had advised Citibank, BNP Paribas, KfW and Alpha Bank on the deal.
The cash takes the form of a post-delivery senior secured term loan facility.
WFW said the funding relates to an octet of boxships due from shipyards in Daehan in South Korea, and Dalian and Qingdao in China, this year and in 2025.
Danaos has commissioned 14 newbuildings of between 6,014 teu and 8,258 teu over the past two years and has already taken delivery of the first of them.
Of the rest, four are 8,010-teu vessels coming from South Korea’s DH Shipbuilding later this year, plus a 7,165-teu unit being delivered from Dalian Shipbuilding in China in the third quarter of this year.
Then there are a pair of 6,014-teu container ships being built at Qingdao Yangfan Shipbuilding for handover in the first half of next year.
Four more 8,258-teu vessels are on order at Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding due in late 2026 and early 2027.
“The newbuilding vessels will be the most efficient in Danaos’ fleet,” WFW said.
They are built in accordance with the latest International Maritime Organization requirements in relation to Tier III emission standards and Energy Efficiency Design Index Phase III.
This will lead to “high carbon credit cost savings which makes this transaction innovative in terms of achieving a more sustainable shipping environment”, the law firm added.
‘A key pillar’
The WFW Athens maritime team that advised Danaos was led by partner Christina Economides, supported by associates Haris Kazantzis and Marianna Psarrou.
Economides said: “We are pleased to have advised Danaos on such an important transaction for their emissions reduction strategy.”
“Sustainability is a key pillar in developing and using alternative technology in the shipping industry and WFW is always happy to help our clients achieve a greener maritime landscape,” she added.
In February, Danaos confirmed the acquisitions of two capesize bulkers from Foremost Group for $52.8m en bloc for delivery in April and July.
TradeWinds had reported that the owner was spending more than $26m to buy the 176,500-dwt Guo May (built 2011).
It was among the four oldest units in the fleet of about 30 newcastlemaxes, capesizes and kamsarmaxes controlled by the Foremost Group.
The Guo May was the eighth Chinese-built capesize that Danaos — a traditional container ship player — had acquired since breaking into the bulker business in July.
The company also revealed it had bought a ninth capesize from the same seller, the 178,000-dwt Xin Hang (built 2010).
