ZIM to charter in ten LNG-fueled box ship newbuilds from Seaspan

Written by Nick Blenkey
ZIM logo on side of ship

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In a sign of the growing trend to LNG fueling in the containership sector, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (NYSE: ZIM), Haifa, Israel, has entered a 12-year agreement with Seaspan Corporation to charter in ten 15,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel newbuilds from Seaspan Corporation.

Seaspan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Corp. (NYSE: ATCO) has ordered the vessels at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries. They are anticipated to begin deliveries in the first half of 2023,

ZIM will deploy the ships on its Asia – U.S. East Coast trade where it has an estimated market share of 9%.

BILLION DOLLAR AGREEMENT

“This is a milestone agreement for ZIM, valued in excess of one billion dollars, that enables us to achieve two important strategic objectives,” said ZIM President and CEO Eli Glickman. “First, these top of the line advanced vessels will allow us to meet growing market demand on the Asia – U.S. East Coast trade and provide top-level, reliable service to our customers on this important trade lane. Second, in line with our core sustainability values, investing in LNG-fueled ‘green’ vessels demonstrates our continued commitment and leadership in addressing environmental issues related to our industry, meeting customer demand to reduce CO2 emissions, helping to preserve clean air and reducing our carbon footprint. We are delighted to partner with industry leaders such as Seaspan and Samsung Heavy Industries on this transaction.”

Bing Chen, chairman, president and CEO of Seaspan, added: “We are very pleased to partner with ZIM to facilitate our customer’s industry leading environmental initiative. This transaction signifies both ZIM’s and Seaspan’s commitment to ESG principles, carbon reduction, and resolve to contribute to a greener business community in the future.”

SUSTAINABILITY-LINKED FINANCING

The news of the agreement with Zim, followed an earlier announcement from Seaspan on the newbuilding order in which Chen said: “We are expanding the scope of our customer solutions by elevating our focus on lowering the impact of emissions, which will result from the adoption and addition of LNG-powered vessels to our fleet. As we have executed sustainability-linked financing which parallels this fleet expansion, we are resolved to contribute to a greener business community in the future. These transactions clearly demonstrate our ability to seize opportunities to develop industry-leading customer solutions and our commitment for quality growth backed by long-term committed partnerships.”

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