With the turn of the year fast approaching, MSC is quickly bringing another fleet expansion under wraps. The Italians found what they were looking for with Zodiac.
At the company’s headquarters in Geneva, work is continuing on expanding the fleet shortly before the end of the year. Brokers report that the Aponte shipping company quickly secured a series of 15,000 TEU newbuilds. [ds_preview]
The freighters designed for LNG as fuel were originally ordered by Zodiac Maritime from Eyal Ofer at Hanwha Ocean (formerly DSME) in South Korea. Through a resale, the five newbuildings will instead be delivered to MSC.
MSC reaches deep into its coffers once again
A purchase price has not yet been announced. However, ships of this size currently cost around 70-80 million dollars. The investment is therefore likely to amount to at least 350 million dollars.
The Aponte shipping company has already acquired more than 330 ships on the second-hand market since summer 2020, making it the No. 1 in international container shipping, among other things. The Italians also have the largest newbuilding program of all leading liners. According to Alphaliner, 121 ships with a capacity of 1.42 million TEU are still in the order book. This corresponds to around a quarter of the fleet in service. (KF)
