London-based containership owner Global Ship Lease has agreed new five-year charters with MSC for 8,667 teu GSL Tianjin (built 2005) and OOCL Qingdao (2004).
The vessels will be renamed MSC Tianjin and MSC Qingdao, and the new charters will commence upon redelivery of the vessels. GSL Tianjin is currently on charter to CMA CGM and will be redelivered late in the second quarter while OOCL Qingdao will be redelivered by OOCL early in the third quarter.
George Youroukos, executive chairman of Global Ship Lease, commented, “With these new five-year charters to MSC, GSL is taking another major step forward in realizing the full benefits of the supportive fundamentals for our high-specification containerships. In a vessel class with zero orderbook, these charters demonstrate the long-term appeal of our fuel-efficient, high reefer capacity, low slot cost post-panamax vessels to a leading liner company. We are confident that the underlying supply and demand trends that have created this strong market remain fully intact, and we will continue to seek opportunities to maximize the value of this market for the benefit of GSL shareholders.”
The charters are expected to generate an adjusted EBITDA of around $25.6m per vessel based on the median firm period.
Last week, Global Ship Lease signed new long-term charters with Zim for containerships Dimitris Y and Ian H.
