Safeen Feeders, the feeder operator jointly owned by Abu Dhabi Ports and Bengal Tiger Line, has bought all four of the Torvald Klaveness Group’s last container ships, Container News has confirmed.
Except for Safeen Prime (ex Banak), the other 2,500TEU ships, Balao, Ballenita and Balsa are pending delivery after being acquired for approximately US$30 million each in July. The four ships were built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding between 2013 and 2014.
Norway’s Torvald Klaveness, whose core focus is dry bulk shipping, exited the container segment with the four-ship sale. The company was a tonnage provider in the container segment.
VesselsValue shows that Safeen Feeders, which operates services connecting UAE to the Indian sub-continent and Oman, had also purchased a 966TEU vessel, Safeen Pearl (ex Vega Virgo), for US$18.5 million from German tonnage provider Vega Reederei in August, and the ship was delivered on 4 October.
While Safeen Feeders is still using chartered vessels to operate its services, Safeen Prime appears to have been fixed out to top container manufacturer China International Marine Containers, which has launched China-US West Coast shipping services to take advantage of rising freight rates.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
