The board of China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) has greenlit a proposal to bareboat charter six 21,000-teu containerships via its subsidiary China Shipping Nauticgreen Holdings.
The proposal includes options for five more vessels, which can be ordered for construction by China Shipping Nauticgreen Holdings within within six months of the charter agreement being signed, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The six firm vessels are already on order.
If the five optional vessels are exercised, they will be chartered under the same terms as the six firm vessels.
Neither the duration nor financial terms of the charters were disclosed, nor was the vessel owner from whom the unidentified boxships will be bareboated.
CSCL is rumoured to be planning a merger with Cosco Container Lines (Coscon), which has nine 20,000-dwt containerships being built at three different Chinese yards.
The decision to bareboat in the boxships was made to “uphold the low-carbon environmental protection concept of operations, comply with the current developing trend of the large-scale shipping market, and to further optimisee the fleet structure of the Group”, the filing said today.
CSCL said it would provide more information on the prospective deal after the charter agreement had been signed.
