MPC Container Ships to acquire 13 vessels

The recently formed shipowner started by investment and asset firm MPC Capital announced the acquisition of seven initial containerships on Monday, with an additional six on the way.    MPC Container Ships AS, a recently formed subsidiary of German investment and asset management firm MPC Capital, announced Monday the acquisition of seven container vessels, with an additional six already agreed upon.
   The initial fleet consists of five vessels that have already been delivered to the company and two scheduled for delivery by the end of June 2017.
   The cost for those seven vessels was $38 million, and all but one will be chartered out to ocean carriers at or above current market rates, MPC said.
   The first seven vessels include the 966-TEU vessels AS Laetitia and AS Laguna, the 1,300-TEU Rickmers Malaysia, the 2,556-TEU Rio Taku, the 2,824-TEU vessels AS Carinthia and Cardonia and a final unnamed vessel with capacity for 2,100 TEUs.
   Six of the vessels will be managed by Ahrenkiel Steamship, with the seventh managed by a third-party ship manager, the company said.
   According to MPC Container Ships, $80 million of the $100 million in capital equity raised in April has been successfully deployed, and the company will continue to seek further vessel transactions and growth opportunities.