Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC)’s massive fleet build-up plan has now taken the company’s secondhand ship purchases over the 200 mark in less than 22 months.
The Swiss-headquartered containerline is being linked to a spree of transactions on post-panamax boxships between 6,000 and 8,500 teu with the vast majority already on their long-term charter.
According to brokers Braemar ACM, the most notable is the en bloc sale of five 8,000 teu MC Seamax vessels; the 2005-built Seamax New Haven and Seamax Bridgeport; the 2006-built Seamax Fairfield; and the 2003 and 2004-built Seamax Darien and Seamax Greenwich.
The average price was reportedly around $60m, reflecting the current rates MSC has the vessels contracted at into 2024 and 2025, Braemar ACM noted.
In August 2020, MSC embarked on an epic expansion of its containership fleet, which has seen an S&P splurge that is unequalled in the history of shipping. Meanwhile, the company’s founder, Gianluigi Aponte, has doubled his fortune during the pandemic, despite the fact that his cruiseship empire has been badly hit by the global covid outbreak. Aponte, who turns 82 this month, is now worth around $19bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
