Costamare acquires boxship pair for Maersk charter, concludes Yang Ming deal
Greek owner Costamare has announced the conclusion of its deal with Yang Ming, which sees it order five containerships from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, and revealed an acquisition of two secondhand boxships for charter to Maersk.
Costamare confirmed orders for five newbuild 12,680 teu containerships at Yangzijiang, with deliveries set for 2020 and 2021, and on delivery the vessels will go on ten-year charters to Yang Ming in a deal the Taiwanese line announced last week.
Additionally, two 2013-built 5,000 teu wide-beam containerships have been acquired, to be renamed Megalopolis and Marathopolis. The pair will go on seven-year charters to Maersk upon delivery, which is scheduled for September. The seller of the ships was not revealed.
Gregory Zikos, chief financial officer of Costamare, commented: “We are pleased to expand our valued relationship with Yang Ming through the completion of our latest newbuilding transaction. At the same time, we are renewing our fleet with modern secondhand vessels backed by seven year charters to Maersk Line. In aggregate, these new transactions provide us with additional contracted revenues of approximatelyUS $650m and further extend our contract coverage to approximately four years.”