MSC buys six container ships with capacity close to Maersk
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) plans to buy six container ships - ER Tianping, ER Tianshan, ER Tokyo, ER Texas - for about $158 million, and 7,849 TEU's ER Vancouver and ER Yokohama, Loadstar reported.
With this purchase MSC has further narrowed the capacity gap with Maersk, which currently has a total capacity of approximately 160,000 TEU.
Analysts say the current STRATEGY for MSC is to reduce the impact of soaring charter rates and support its aggressive growth policies by adding tonnage.In its talk, STANDARD & Poor's describes MSC's ambitions: "They're really interested in anything that floats."
Meanwhile, the latest Alphaliner idle capacity survey shows that idle container ship capacity has fallen by almost half in the past two months.As of October 26, Alphaliner recorded an idle capacity of 378,802 TEU on 107 ships, compared to 198 ships with an idle capacity of 799,643 TEU on August 31.Alphaliner said the container leasing market continued to grow in response to increasing supply constraints, with rates rising rapidly for all types of ships.
Hapag-lloyd recently leased a 5, 000-teu container ship for five months at $25,000 a day, which could be five times what it was two years ago.
