Danaos buys six eco-friendly boxships

Athens-based containership owner and operator Danaos Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire six 5,466 TEU container vessels built at Hanjin Subic Bay shipyard.

The ship sextet will be bought in an en bloc transaction for $260 million.

The acquired boxships, which are expected to be gradually delivered to the company by the end of the third quarter of 2021, are eco-design wide beam vessels with improved fuel consumption and load efficiency characteristics when compared to conventional designs.

The vessels, which have an average age of 6.8 years, are on time charter contracts to liner companies with a weighted average charter duration of approximately two years.

As explained, the acquisition will increase the company’s contracted revenue by approximately $71 million and the contracted EBITDA by approximately $39 million in total and will be funded by cash at hand, although Danaos is evaluating debt financing alternatives to finance part of the purchase price.

“We are very pleased to announce an immediately accretive acquisition of a … fleet at a fraction of the newbuilding cost and considerably lower than its charter free market value. The purchase price and contracted revenue associated with the vessels significantly reduce the residual risk of this transaction,” John Coustas, Danaos’ CEO, commented.

“Also, the targeted vessel segment has very favorable supply dynamics, and the vessels’ staggered charters with durations between one and three years provide re-chartering upside.”

The acquired vessels, which are expected to be gradually delivered to the company by the end of the third quarter of 2021, are eco-design wide beam vessels with improved fuel consumption and load efficiency characteristics when compared to conventional designs.

Danaos has a fleet of 65 containerships aggregating 403,793 TEUs.