CONTAINERSHIP charter owner Global Ship Lease (GSL) has announced five-year charters with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) for two postpanamaxes, the twin 8,677-TEU MSC Tianjin and MSC Qingdao.
According to a press note from the Marshall Islands' incorporated company, the ships were built in 2005 and 2004 and previously known as the GSL Tianjin and the OOCL Qingdao.
'With these new five-year charters to MSC, GSL is taking another major step forward in realising the full benefits of the supportive fundamentals for our high-specification containerships,' said GSL chairman George Youroukos.
'In a vessel class with zero orderbook, these charters demonstrate the long-term appeal of our fuel-efficient, high reefer capacity, low slot cost postpanamax vessels to a leading liner company,' he said.
'We are confident that the underlying supply and demand trends that have created this strong market remain fully intact, and we will continue to seek opportunities to maximise the value of this market for the benefit of GSL shareholders.'
Said GSL chief executive Ian Webber: 'These long-term cashflows provide us with excellent forward visibility and further enhance our ability to optimise our capital structure and pursue a lower cost of debt.'
GSL owns 38 containerships ranging in size from 2,207 to 11,040 TEU, nine of which are fuel efficient new-design wide beam vessels, with a total capacity of 200,615 TEU. The fleet's average age, weighted by TEU capacity, was 11.3 years as at March 31, 2019, noted New York's MarineLink.
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According to a press note from the Marshall Islands' incorporated company, the ships were built in 2005 and 2004 and previously known as the GSL Tianjin and the OOCL Qingdao.
'With these new five-year charters to MSC, GSL is taking another major step forward in realising the full benefits of the supportive fundamentals for our high-specification containerships,' said GSL chairman George Youroukos.
'In a vessel class with zero orderbook, these charters demonstrate the long-term appeal of our fuel-efficient, high reefer capacity, low slot cost postpanamax vessels to a leading liner company,' he said.
'We are confident that the underlying supply and demand trends that have created this strong market remain fully intact, and we will continue to seek opportunities to maximise the value of this market for the benefit of GSL shareholders.'
Said GSL chief executive Ian Webber: 'These long-term cashflows provide us with excellent forward visibility and further enhance our ability to optimise our capital structure and pursue a lower cost of debt.'
GSL owns 38 containerships ranging in size from 2,207 to 11,040 TEU, nine of which are fuel efficient new-design wide beam vessels, with a total capacity of 200,615 TEU. The fleet's average age, weighted by TEU capacity, was 11.3 years as at March 31, 2019, noted New York's MarineLink.
WORLD SHIPPING