Greece's Costamare has returned to Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering of South Korea with an order for five post-panamax containerships worth approximately $475m.
The New York-listed boxship owner says it expects the 8,800-teu newbuildings to hit the water in the first and third quarters of 2013.
Upon delivery, the vessels will serve long-term charters with affiliates of Taiwanese liner giant Evergreen Group.
Costamare says it is looking to bankroll the series with cash and new loan facilities backed by “major financial institutions” and does not expect to tap current credit lines which remain undrawn.
The company did not pin a price on the quintet or reveal charter rates in a note to investors but indicated the deals were nearly identical to a transaction sealed earlier in the year.
“Both the contract price and the daily charter rate are similar to those agreed in January 2011 regarding the three approximately 9,000-teu newbuild containerships contracted with China Shipbuilding Trading and Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry,” it said in a statement Tuesday. The trio cost around $95m apiece and were booked against 10-year contracts with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) with a day rate of $43,000.
At the same time the company said it has finalised financing for the two post-panamaxes to be built by Sungdong for 10-year charter to MSC. Sungdong signed the two 8,800-teu boxships for Costamare in January this year.