Seaspan to build, charter 10 more containerships to Yang Ming

   Seaspan Corp., which builds containerships and charters them to liner companies, said it will build and charter 10 additional 14,000-TEU ships to Yang Ming.
   In January, Seaspan said it had signed deals to have Hyundai Heavy Industries build five similar ships, three of which it will own and two of which it will manage for Greater China Intermodal Investments (GCI), a joint venture Seaspan has with Carlyle Group.
   The 10 newest ships will be built at two different yards — five at Hyundai in South Korea and five at CSBC Corporation Taiwan.
   Seaspan revealed on July 19 that it had entered into a $550 million contract with a major Asian shipbuilder for certain newbuilding containerships. It said yesterday that the order is for five 14,000-TEU ships that will be built at Hyundai and chartered to Yang Ming.
   In a research note, Michael Webber of Wells Fargo said the charter rates were not disclosed and are believed to be about $46,000/day. Seaspan also announced that it has entered into commitments with CSBC to have constructed and to acquire five additional 14,000-TEU-class containerships for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $550 million. It has also signed a binding letter of intent with Yang Ming to enter into long-term, fixed-rate time charter contracts for those five vessels.
   Seaspan expects to complete definitive time charter contracts with Yang Ming and definitive shipbuilding contracts with CSBC (formerly known as China Shipbuilding Corp.) shortly. These vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2016.
   “We are pleased to partner with Yang Ming, one of the premier liners in the industry, to place one of the largest recent newbuilding orders and to entrust our technical teams with building and managing their flagships as they modernize their fleet,” said Gerry Wang, the chief executive officer and co-chairman of Seaspan.
   “This order demonstrates our ability to draw upon our financial strength and deep technical and operational expertise to place large-scale orders that realize economies of scale for our customers and deliver accretive growth to our shareholders.”
   He said with that order, Seaspan’s managed fleet for both its own ships and those it manages for GCI “is closing in on 100 ships.”
   Seaspan, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SSW, said the latest ten 14,000-TEU-class newbuilding containerships will be constructed using Seaspan’s fuel efficient SAVER design.
   Webber said details of the order split is likely 50/50 between SSW and its Carlyle J, but is not yet known, “making a firm growth figure for SSW difficult to pin down.” – Chris Dupin