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Contships hits 40-vessel mark with Boluda feeder pair

  • March 11, 2020
  • Posted by: Contships
  • Categories: News, Press
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Nikolas D. Pateras Tradewinds

Nikolas Pateras-led company piles on larger feeder containerships while clearing out smaller, older tonnage Greek container feedership specialist Contships Management has resumed expansion, buying two ships it first set its sights on more than two years ago.

It has agreed to pay $11m enbloc for the 1,267-teu Beatriz B (built 2008) and Veronica B (built 2007), market sources said. TradeWinds reported in July 2017 that Contships founder Nikolas Pateras was interested in buying the duo.

Spain’s Boluda Corporacion Maritime ordered the vessels at China’s Nanjing Wujiazui Shipbuilding, reportedly at an eye- watering $35m each. They had been laid up in Spain for more than 18 months before Contships took delivery.

The Veronica B is listed on the company’s website as Contship Jet and the Beatriz B as Contship Ace. Contships is upgrading them to double their reefer capacity. The work is expected to finish next month and to cost about $1m per ship.

The move towards bigger and younger tonnage is characteristic of the latest phase in Contships’ development.

Pateras started the company from scratch in 2014 and has invested more than $250m to grow its fleet to its current size of 40 ves- sels, ranging from 704 teu to 1,432 teu, the great majority built between 2003 and 2009.

As the fleet reaches the critical mass of between 40 and 50 vessels that he has previously said he wanted to accomplish, Pateras is beginning to clear out the smaller and older units.

In a little-noticed deal in June, he offloaded the 706-teu Contship Ace (built 2007) for about $3.4m. It has since emerged as the Veniamin Khlopin under the ownership of Russian company Kamchatka Shipping.

The purchase of the Veronica B and Beatriz B may also become part of a fleet renewal move. TradeWinds understands that the pair could be meant as replacements for two 977-teu units: the BFP Galaxy (built 1997), also known as Contship Key; and BFP Melody (built 1998), also known as Contship Lex.

Source: Tradewinds