CONTAINERSHIP owner Rickmers Maritime is to return to the ultra-large containership market as they are the best at generating profit over a charter period.
Rickmers looks to ultra-large containerships for economies of scale
CONTAINERSHIP owner Rickmers Maritime is to return to the ultra-large containership market as they are the best at generating profit over a charter period.
Speaking at the Containerisation International conference in Singapore, Rickmers Trust Management CEO Thomas Preben Hansen said: "It really is ideal, capital intensive. You have to have strong counterparties and long-term charterers. It is all about steady revenue."
In 2007, the trust ordered three 13,100 TEU vessels but struggled to raise the finance due to the global financial crisis.
"And it has to be at returns that are accretive to the shareholders from a cash-yield perspective. In a yield instrument, it is not enough to have a total return in 10 years' time when you divest the asset. You have to have to have this cash-yield throughout the charter."
Eventually, Rickmers Group, which has a 33 per cent shareholding in Rickmers Maritime, stepped in and took delivery of the vessels, noted Lloyd's List. Mr Hansen also said the company would grow its boxship fleet in a co-ordinated fashion, ordering the type of fuel-efficient ship the industry wanted.
"We are definitely motivated to grow the fleet. We are motivated to order in a co-ordinated fashion to avoid over-ordering. As attractive as it may be to order ships today, we have to accept that the supply and demand is sensitive to over-ordering," he said.