Japan’s Shoei Kisen and Evangelos Marinakis-controlled Capital Maritime & Trading have advanced plans for ultra-large and neo-panamax boxship newbuildings.
Shipbuilding players said Shoei Kisen — the shipowning arm of privately owned Imabari Shipbuilding — has reserved six berths at Imabari for 23,000-teu newbuildings for charter to Ocean Network Express (ONE).
Officials at Imabari and Shoei Kisen told TradeWinds that they were not aware of the project.
A spokesman for ONE said the company is studying newbuildings, but nothing is yet firm and ready for public announcement at the moment.
Shipbuilding players said Shoei Kisen has received an attractive price from Imabari for the conventionally fuelled vessels and, as a result, it could offer competitive charter rates to ONE.
The price was not disclosed but shipbuilding players suggested it to be more than $150m per ship.
“Delivery schedule for the containerships is probably 2023, since that is the delivery period that ONE has requested,” one source said. “The 23,000-teu newbuildings will be the largest containerships that Imabari is going to build.”
ONE is said to have approached shipyards in the Far East for the newbuildings since last year. But the coronavirus outbreak led the company to put the plans on the back burner.
Shipbuilding players added that the signing of the charter contract between Shoei Kisen and ONE will take place next year.
Marinakis deal
In a separate deal, Marinakis interests are said to have inked letters of intent (LOIs) for a series of 13,000-teu containership newbuildings with Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Shipbuilding players said the Greek shipowner has signed for five firm vessels with options for five additional ships at each yard.
They added that the LOIs include an option for the buyer to upgrade the newbuildings to run on LNG.
Officials at SHI and HHI declined to comment on their activities, citing client confidentiality.
Shipbuilding players believe it is Capital Maritime & Trading Corp — Marinakis’ private company — that signed the contracts with the two South Korean yards.
The last time Marinakis ordered containership newbuildings was in 2014, when Capital Maritime commissioned South Korea’s Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Romania’s Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries to build a series of wide-beam, 9,443-teu neo-panamaxes worth around $700m.
Neo-panamax containerships of between 5,000 teu and 10,000 teu form the backbone of Marinakis’ listed Capital Product Partners, after a transformative deal in late 2018 saw the company spin off its tankers and merge them with Diamond S Shipping.
Capital Product Partners currently has 13 boxships and a capesize bulker.
