ZIM has acquired seven containerships of between 12 and 14 years old for $320m since the start of October.
The vessels purchased are five traditional panamax sized 4,250 teu boxships and two 1,100 teu.
The prices of secondhand containerships have soared due to the capacity crunch facing the sector. Traditional panamax vessels were all but worthless a few years ago following the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2016 with ships of that class as young as 10 years old being sent for scrap.
The sellers of the seven vessels in the $320m transactions were not revealed. ZIM primarily charters in tonnage rather than buying, however, the market is extremely tight and a traditional panamax was recently chartered at $200,000 per day
Eli Glickman, ZIM President & CEO, said: “Since going public our focus has been to allocate capital to strengthen our commercial prospects and create long-term shareholder value.
“With the opportunistic acquisition of these much-needed vessels, we have drawn on our strong cash position and our agile approach to maintain and expand our operating fleet to meet growing customer demand, while remaining committed to delivering industry superior profitability. Going forward, we will continue to complement our primary strategy of chartering-in the vast majority of our vessels, by selectively acquiring second-hand tonnage when the appropriate opportunities arise.”
Source: Seatrade Maritime News
