Diana confirms scrapping of youngest containership ever

Athens, Greece-based containership lessor Diana Containerships has sold the M/V Angeles, formerly on charter to Taiwanese ocean carrier Yang Ming, to an unnamed demolition yard for $6.69 million before commissions, the company said.    Diana Containerships Inc. has confirmed the sale of the M/V Angeles, the youngest containership ever sold for scrap.
   The Athens, Greece-based containership lessor sold the 2006-built Angeles, formerly on charter to Taiwanese ocean carrier Yang Ming as the YM Los Angeles, to an unnamed demolition yard for $6.69 million before commissions, it said in a statement.
   Built by Koyo Dockyard in Hiroshima, Japan and delivered in December 2006, the 5,500-TEU Angeles most recently served on Yang Ming’s joint Asia-South America ASA/WS2 service with Wan Hai, Pacific International Lines (PIL), Evergreen and COSCO.
   The ASA/WS2 operates with 10 vessels – four from Wan Hai, three from PIL, and one each from COSCO, Evergreen and Yang Ming – with an average capacity of 4,574 TEUs, according to ocean carrier scheduled and capacity database BlueWater Reporting. The loop has a full port rotation of Kaohsiung, Shekou, Hong Kong, Ningbo, Shanghai, Manzanillo (MX), Lazaro Cardenas (MX), Puerto Quetzal, Buenaventura, Guayaquil/Puerto Bolivar, Callao, Paita, Manzanillo (MX), Busan and Kaohsiung.
   The sale of the Angeles brings Diana Containerships’ total fleet down to 12 container vessels, including six post-Panamax ships and six Panamax vessels.
   The decision to scrap such a young vessel continues a trend set by other vessel owners like Seaspan Corp., which has been scrapping younger and younger containerships as excess capacity continues to drag on freight rates and carrier profitability.