Danaos orders four boxships from Chinese shipyard

Danaos orders four boxships from Chinese shipyard
Four newbuilds contracted for at one of the world's biggest shipyards

Athens, Greece, Danaos Corporation recently announced that it has signed shipbuilding contracts for four 6,800 TEU vessels with China Shipbuilding Trading Company, Limited.

The vessels will be built by the Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry Company Limited and they are expected to be delivered to Danaos during the second and third quarter of 2010.

This new order increases Danaos’ total order-book to 19 containerships with a total carrying capacity of 102,324 TEU or 73% of its current fleet.

"This acquisition marks an important step in our development," said Dr. Coustas, Chief Executive Officer of Danaos. "On the back of this order we are initiating a relationship with the largest shipbuilding concern in China and potentially the largest shipbuilding facility in the world. Danaos will take delivery of these vessels half year into 2010 and will be powered by Korean built electronic engines providing improved efficiency and lower emissions. The vessels are designed to comply with the latest environmentally friendly fuel oil tank regulations and will have a design speed of 25.3 knots. The fact that these vessels have an excellent design with the highest intake of all vessels in their class gives us confidence we will secure attractive charters for these vessels at a later stage which is also consistent with our growth strategy and our constant focus on improving returns on deployed capital."

Also Danaos Corporation announced on March 8th that it has signed an agreement with CMA-CGM to time charter three containerships for a period of 36 months and at a net charter rate of $ 22,950 per day. The charters will commence as of the date when the current employment of these vessels ends in 2007.

Specifically, the 3,039 TEU Henry and the 3,045 TEU Independence are currently on time charter with Wan Hai with expiration dates during the second quarter 2007, while the 3,098 Victory I is currently under time charter with Norasia with an expiration date during the third quarter 2007.

These are the only vessels in Danaos fleet which were becoming available for rechartering in 2007 and following the above mentioned agreements Danaos has secured 100% charter coverage for its fleet in 2007.

"We are pleased to further expand our long relationship with CMA-CGM, the third largest liner company in our market and to secure 100% charter cover for 2007," said Dr. Coustas, Chief Executive Officer of Danaos. "The rates and charter duration we have achieved for these three of our vessels are almost identical to the terms they were deployed so far, which underlines the fact that the charter market is gaining some momentum after a period of relative softness.”

Danaos Corporation is a leading international owner of containerships, chartering vessels to a geographically diverse group of liner companies including many of the largest, such as Maersk, COSCO, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA-CGM, Neptune Orient Lines, Yang Ming and China Shipping, Norasia Container Lines Ltd, Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., Wan-Hai Lines and Zim Israel Integrated Shipping Services Ltd.