Greek shipping company Box Ships has agreed to acquire two post-Panamax container vessels from OOCL for $31.15 million per vessel.
The two 5,344 TEU post-Panamax ships are the 1995-build OOCL Hong Kong and the 1996-build OOCL China. The expected dates of delivery for both vessels to the company are to take place mid-July.
Both vessels will be chartered to OOCL for a period of 36 months plus or minus 30 days. The employment of the two vessels is expected to generate approximately $57 million of net revenues for the agreed period of the charters.
The Athens-based company's current fleet consists of seven container ships with a total carrying capacity of 33,237 TEU. After the delivery of the acquired vessels, the company will have a fleet of nine vessels with a total carrying capacity of 43,925 TEU and a TEU-weighted average age of 7.4 years.
Michael Bodouroglou, chairman, president and CEO of Box Ships, commented: "We are pleased to announce the acquisition of the OOCL vessels that is consistent with our stated strategy to grow the size of our fleet and our cash flow and provides evidence of the emergence of Box Ships as a reputable and reliable containership operator. The vessels are in a size segment that we believe will continue to be critical in the global container seaborne transportation logistical chain and facilitate the commencement of our working relationship with OOCL, a major global container liner company.
“The three year charters extend the average term of our charter portfolio (from 23 months to 26 months), further stagger the maturities of our contracts and further diversify our sources of revenue.”
