The Greek shipowner Capital Product Partners L.P. (CPLP) agreed to acquire three 5,100TEU container ships from Capital Maritime & Trading Corp. (Capital Maritime) on 27 January.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]CPLP will buy the three boxships, Seattle Express, Long Beach Express and Fos Express, which were built in 2008 at Hanjin Heavy Industries’ yard in South Korea, for a total consideration of US$40.5 million.
The vessels are employed under five-year charters to Hapag-Lloyd at a gross charter rate of US$12,300/day and will be delivered to the new owner with their special surveys passed and fitted with ballast water treatment and alternative maritime power (AMP) systems.
The Piraeus-based shipping company will partly fund the acquisition of the three vessels by entering into a sale and lease back transaction with CMB Financial Leasing Co., Ltd, (CMBFL) for an amount of US$30 million in aggregate.
The lease has a duration of five years and will be repaid in 20 equal consecutive quarterly installments of US$800,000 including a purchase option for CPLP to acquire each vessel on expiration of the lease at the predetermined price of US$4.5 million.
“We are pleased to announce the addition of three panamax container vessels to our fleet, as we continue to execute our business plan of growing the partnership through accretive acquisitions with long-term cash flow visibility,” commented Jerry Kalogiratos, CPLP’s chief executive officer.
With the addition of the three sister container ships, Capital Product Partners will have a fleet of 16 boxships with an overall capacity of approximately 115,000TEU.[/s2If]
[s2If !is_user_logged_in()]Please login or register to read the rest of the story[/s2If]
