The Hamburg-based asset manager MPC Capital has not been active on the second-hand market for almost three years. With assets prices falling, the company is back.
Two traditional Panamax ships will be added to the fleet, as the company confirmed to HANSA. These are two units with a slot capacity of 4,256 TEU each. [ds_preview]
As “Jack London” and “Jonathan Swift” (built in 2010), they previously sailed the world’s oceans, were managed by V.Ships in Hamburg and belonged to Northern Shipping, the ownership company that emerged from Bernd Kortüm ‘s North German shipping company H. Schuldt. In future, they will operate as “Rio Oslo” and “Rio Copenhagen” for MPC Capital.
The en bloc price is reportedly US $35.2 million. MPC itself describes this purchase as an “attractive opportunity”. In addition to the purchase price, which is significantly below the level of previous years, a charter agreement that is still valid apparently makes the transaction very worthwhile from the asset manager’s point of view.
Charter agreement secures income for MPC Capital
The ships will continue to sail under a four-year contract until July next year at a daily charter of around US $26,000 for the major French shipping company CMA CGM, the No. 3 in global liner shipping. Both together they have attracted the interest of investors, according to reports.
In view of the lower prices, the guaranteed income and the value of the ships, the risk is manageable, said Felix Nölke, the Group’s maritime investment manager, when asked by HANSA. In the past two or three years, however, the ship values were considered too high. In total, the MPC fleet has grown to 150 ships under management.
In addition to the second-hand ships now acquired and the stake in the recently much more active Oslo offshoot MPC Container Ships, MPC Capital has ordered four methanol-powered newbuildings, each with a capacity of 5,500 TEU. The ships will be built in South Korea.
Investors involved in MPC Capital newbuildings
Three units have been handed over to the Norwegian investor Ocean Yield, while the fourth belongs to the German Elbdeich Reederei. The christening of the “Zim Yangtze” and the “Zim Mississippi” at HJ Shipbuilding & Construction was only recently celebrated. The ships were chartered out to the Israeli shipping company Zim for seven years.
MPC Capital had also merged the ship management division bundled at Ahrenkiel into a joint venture with Wilhelmsen. Zeaborn Ship Management was subsequently taken over by Zech Maritime.
