Seaspan extends charter period with COSCO for 17 boxships

Hong Kong-based containership owner Seaspan Corporation has forward fixed contracts, extending current lease terms for 17 containerships with China’s COSCO Shipping Line.

As disclosed, the vessels were initially scheduled to conclude current charters with COSCO for a period of three years and now they are extended for a three-year term beginning at the end of their current charter period.

Under the first agreement, Seaspan would charter two vessels in 2021, 13 vessels in 2022, and two vessels in 2023.

The vessels represent approximately 117,700 TEU in aggregate.

The company also noted that the contracts are expected to generate $700 million of gross contracted cash flow over the course of the charter terms during 2023-27.

“The forward fixing of these 17 vessels is another milestone of mutual commitment to our long-term partnership throughout the market cycles. The immediate result of forward fixing is that we have a very limited number of vessel redeliveries in 2022 and 2023,” Bing Chen, Chairman, President and CEO of Seaspan commented.

Yesterday, Seaspan has announced an order for two 12,000 TEU boxship newbuilds. The ships are expected to be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2022 and, upon completion, will enter longterm charters with an unnamed global liner.

The company currently has 39 ships under the construction and this latest order is increasing the total fleet capacity to 1,694,200 TEU on a fully delivered basis.