Angeliki Frangou-led Navios Maritime Partners (NMP) has ordered up to four more 5,300TEU ships at Zhoushan Changhong Shipbuilding, adding to an earlier order the Greek ship owner made for six similar-sized vessels at the Chinese shipyard in July.
The company’s role as a tonnage provider of container vessels was established with the Navios group’s acquisition of the entire container ship fleet of bankrupt Rickmers Maritime Trust, forming Navios Maritime Containers.
In early 2021, Navios Maritime Containers was merged with NMP, which was already active as an owner of tankers and bulk carriers.
Zhoushan Changhong, which announced NMP’s latest order on 24 November, said that this order comprises two firm units, with options for another two vessels. These will be delivered in 2024, while the earlier batch of six ships will be delivered in 2023. Each ship is priced at US$61.6 million.
For the first nine months of 2021, NMP recorded a net profit of US$394.79 million, reversing the 9M 2020 net loss of US$18.37 million that was caused by Covid-19-related disruptions in the year-ago period.
The company also announced that it had secured new long-term time charters for 10 containerships which are expected to generate approximately US$690 million in revenue. These include the first six 5,300TEU vessels that NMP had contracted at Zhoushan Changhong; the ships have been chartered-out for five to 5.3 years at an average daily rate of US$37,050.
Three 4,250TEU ships have been chartered-out for 50 to 54 months and one 4,250TEU ship for 42 to 44 months. The total average daily rate for the first 42 – 44 months amounts to US$46,536 per day (2.25x the current average contracted net rate of $20,663 for 3.4x duration) and for the remaining period, amounts to US$31,906 per day.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
