Germany’s Peter Döhle Schiffahrts has been named as the buyer of three containerships from Capital Product Partners as the US-listed outfit backed by Evangelos Marinakis works towards becoming an LNG carrier pure-play.
S&P databases suggest the Hamburg-based boxship and bulker owner and operator has snapped up the 9,954 teu Athos, Aristomenis and Athenian for $51m each.
The 2011 Samsung Heavy-built trio, currently on charter to German liner Hapag-Lloyd, is estimated by VesselsValue at around $164m.
“These acquisitions fit nicely in the Döhle fleet which was showing a gap in size between units of 6,700 teu and the owner’s 13,371 teu flagship, the Southampton Express,” container shipping analysts at Alphaliner noted in the latest report.
In November last year, Capital announced plans to move away from the container segment and focus on LNG carriers. The boxship sell-off campaign kicked off in December and the company has since revealed the sale of seven ships, including the 2008-built 5,100 teu sister vessels Fos Express and Seattle Express, also linked to German buyers.
Capital confirmed the sale on Wednesday, saying it expects $182.5m in total gross cash proceeds from offloading these seven boxships after repaying outstanding debt.
