Brokers report Italy’s Ignazio Messina & Co has sold its last four 2,920 teu large conros to Abu Dhabi Ports for an en bloc price of $400m, far more than the $294m the owner paid for the ships when ordering them in South Korea nine years ago.
The Jolly Coral, Jolly Palladio, Jolly Titanio and Jolly Vanadio ships were built at STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, now rebranded as K Shipbuilding.
Having hit tough financial times, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) came in with a €25m ($28.5m) investment to take a 52% stake in Ignazio Messina three years ago.
Alphaliner analysts predict that Ignazio Messina, now shorn of all of its conros, will focus on building up a containership fleet. The company has already chartered one 2,500 teu vessel from MSC and bought two 4,600 teu vessels from interests linked to V Ships Hamburg.
Conros – ships that carry containers, vehicles and other rolling cargo – are an endangered and ageing vessel species.
Grimaldi, Abu Dhabi Ports and Bahri are the only three carriers left operating conro tonnage on long-distance routes with Alphaliner data showing the combined fleets of these three conro operators represent just 0.5% of the total liner fleet.
