Costamare buys two ships, extends charters on six
Costamare bought two second hand vessels for $90 million and extended the charters on six other ships in the Greek containership owner’s 49-vessel fleet, the Journal of Commerce reported.
The NYSE-listed company also finalized the financing for three of five 8,800 20-foot equivalent container units ships on order. Costamere accepted a firm offer from a consortium of European and Asian banks to finance the remaining two newbuilds.
Costamare paid $60 million for an eight-year-old 6,724 TEUs vessel, which it has chartered to Geneva-based carrier MSC for 10 years at a daily rate of $29,000, starting at the end of October.
The company is also spending $30 million on a 2002-built 4,132 TEUs ship, which will start a 63-month charter to MSC at a daily rate of $16,500 following the vessel delivery in the first quarter of 2012.
The extension of six time charter agreements with MSC on ships, ranging from 2,023 TEUs to 3,584 TEUs, will contribute an additional $207 million of contracted revenues, the company said.
Two 1978-built containerships have been sold for scrap for approximately $8.8 million, realizing a capital gain of around $5 million. Including the two secondhand ships and the 10 vessels on order, Costamare’s fleet totals 61 vessels with a total capacity of 337,000 TEUs.