On August 3, Antong Holdings Co., Ltd. released the Announcement on the Connected Transaction of Leasing Vessels to Sinotrans Container Lines Ltd., according to the company's release.
The announcement disclosed that Antong Holdings intends to lease four containerships to Sinotrans Container Lines Company Limited (Sinotrans Container Lines, including the controlling subsidiaries of Sinotrans Container Lines), a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES), for the purpose of carrying out foreign trade consolidation business.
Among them, the unit price of the lease for two 2,444 TEU containerships is estimated to be $23,500 per day (excluding tax), and the lease term is planned to be 16 to 20 months; the unit price of the lease for two 698 TEU containerships is estimated to be $7,500 per day (excluding tax), and the lease term is planned to be 11-13 months; and the total amount of this transaction is estimated to be RMB190,000,000 to RMB250,000,000 (excluding tax).
According to the announcement, this transaction is due to the increase in competition in the domestic container logistics market as a result of the chain effect of the input of new domestic capacity and insufficient market sources, with the average domestic container tariffs declining by 22.10% year-on-year in 2023. At the same time, due to the tight ship capacity caused by the Red Sea crisis, coupled with the recent release of transportation demand, the foreign trade container market is in short supply and freight rates continue to rise, resulting in the corresponding ship charter rate is also in an upward trend.