Greek car carrier company Neptune Lines has made headway in its biggest fleet expansion programme in years, just as charter rates and ship values in the business are skyrocketing.
The Melina Travlos-owned company announced on Tuesday that it had taken delivery of its fifth acquisition since appointing the Australian Craig Jasienski as chief executive nearly a year ago. The moves have boosted its fleet by one-third.
The 4,900-ceu Hoegh Singapore (built 2011) has joined the Neptune fleet under its new name, Neptune Ethos, the Piraeus-based company said.
Neptune’s statement confirms a TradeWinds report in February that identified the company as the buyer of the Hoegh Singapore and sistership Hoegh Maputo (built 2011), which has been renamed Neptune Tharros.
These acquisitions bring Neptune Line’s owned fleet to 19 vessels, “adding the necessary capacity to cope with the increased customer demands”, the company said.
After car carriers faced several years of slumping rates capped by becoming one of the shipping segments hardest hit by the pandemic, the niche space is benefiting from similar dynamics as container shipping — port congestion and a post-coronavirus rebound in global trade sales.
Its recovery from the middle of last year owes much to a combination of pent-up demand, economic stimulus measures, reopening economies and low fleet growth.
Neptune has invested early and generously to tap into that growth. It also emerged as the new owner of the 7,000-ceu Siem Ashanti (built 2022).
The vessel — originally ordered by Siem Shipping — was sold to unidentified owners last year as part of bankruptcy proceedings of its builder, Croatia’s 3 Maj shipyard.
Neptune announced taking delivery of the ship, now called Neptune Barcelona, on 14 July.
Its remaining two acquisitions this year were the 3,900-ceu sisterships Le Mans Express (renamed Neptune Kallos, built 2010) and Monza Express (renamed Neptune Phos, built 2009).
Neptune Lines has not disclosed what it paid for its five fleet additions. According to information on VesselsValue, however, the ships cost nearly $200m in total.
According to the same source, they have a combined value of $276m now.
New kids on the block
Neptune Lines is one of the few Greek companies to have a considerable presence in car carriers.
The sector, however, has started attracting other Greek players.
As TradeWinds reported at the end of May, tanker player Atlas Maritime made its debut move, ordering a 7,000-ceu pure car/truck carrier newbuilding at China’s CIMC Raffles Offshore Engineering.
According to S&P Global Markets, Atlas has since expanded that original order with a sistership newbuilding.
(This article has been amended since original publication to correct the amount that Neptune Lines is estimated to have spent on its acquisitions)
