Seaspan Sees Strong Eco-ship Demand

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday March 5, 2014

Ship leasing company Seaspan Corp. [NYSE:SSW] (Seaspan) expects continued strong demand for large eco-class ships, CEO Gerry Wang told analysts on a company earnings call Monday.

"Our customers' demand for large eco-class container ships continues to be driven by a desire for cost reduction rather than a desire for market share," Wang said.

"Since [bunker] costs are 30% to 45% of an operator's operating costs, modernizing their fleets with large, modern, fuel-efficient vessels such as those built using Seaspan's SAVER design concept has become top priority."

Wang said the company anticipates 5 to 6 percent growth in global container trade volumes this year, while freight rates remain volatile among trade lanes.

Wang also said Seaspan has added six SAVER-design 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) vessels on long-term contracts with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (MOL).

The ships are being built at YZJ shipyard with delivery scheduled for the second half of 2015 and the first half of 2016, bringing Seaspan's order book of that model of ship at YZJ to 17.

"Worth mentioning here, given the requirements of our potential customers we are contemplating to add another four to six sisters for delivery during 2016," Wang said.

Seaspan said in November that offering fuel-saving tonnage has been a key to increasing its profits.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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