Rickmers Reederei, a fully consolidated subsidiary of Rickmers Group, is pouring up to US$260m in three state-of-the-art boxships with a capacity of 9,300teu each.The vessels are under construction at South Korea's shipyard STX.

Two of these vessels will be delivered within the coming six months, with a third following in February 2016.

The investment will be backed by an undisclosed bank and an international financial investor, according to Rickmers.

Long-term charter contracts for all three vessels have already been agreed with the French company CMA CGM. The contracted terms total a charter income around US$200m.

"The market demands large fuel-efficient ships to sustainably lower slot costs, that is costs per transported container unit, to a competitive level. We are also proud to uphold an old Rickmers tradition in naming these ships: the MS R.C. Rickmers, the first newbuild, will be the seventh vessel since 1868 with this name, followed by the seventh MS Peter Rickmers and the fourth MS Mai Rickmers," Rickmers Group CEO Dr Ignace Van Meenen comments.

"In our view, pressure to modernize technology in the shipping industry is structural and broad-based. As a company we intend to participate in this development for the long-term and are aligning our investment strategy accordingly. More consistently than before we plan to provide the required financial resources for this through tapping international capital markets," explains Prof. Dr Erdmann, CFO of Rickmers Group.