Seaspan looking at 18,000/20,000 TEU containerships

Even though 10, 000 TEUs are foreseen with a bright future utilization on the market, Seaspan Corp is also looking at 18,000 and 20,000 TEUs for their fleet, it was said during a conference call on the
containership company’s quarter results. “We will see what happens in the forthcoming three to six months but it is no secret that we are looking at that class of ships as well,” Seaspan’s Chief Financial Officer Sai Chu said.

 The company’s revenue increased by 7.8% to USD 185.9 million and 4.5% to USD 527.7 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively, over the same periods for 2013. These increases were due primarily to the delivery of four 10000 TEU vessels in 2014, the delivery of two 4600 TEU secondhand vessels in mid-2013 and a decrease in unscheduled off-hire. These increases were attributed by Seaspan to lower charter rates for three of its vessels which were on short-term charters and a decrease in vessel management revenue.

Vessel utilization was 99.2% and 99.1% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively, compared to 98.5% and 97.9% for the same periods in 2013. Gerry Wang, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder of Seaspan, said, “During the third quarter, we entered into time charter agreements with Maersk for four state-of-the-art 10000 TEU vessels, underscoring the success of our SAVER design.

 We also extended time charters for five 14000 TEU vessels with Yang Ming and confirmed Seaspan will build and manage a total of 15 SAVER design vessels for Yang Ming under 10+2-year fixed-rate time charters.” Mr. Wang said that the company has signed all of its newbuildings to fixed-rate time charters, “increasing our total committed revenue to $6.6 billion. With a strong balance sheet and capital structure, we remain well positioned to further solidify our position as the largest containership supplier.”

The company has 28 vessels under construction at three shipyards YZJ, HHI and at CSBC versus spend and at GCI, according to Wang. Seaspan has six 10,000 TEU and eight 14,000 TEU newbuildings due for delivery during November 2014 and the end of 2016. The company also has options to build six 10,000 TEU or 14,000 TEU boxships at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.