Due to low market demand, ZIM is offloading several charter vessels to reduce its exposure to the freight market.
Recently, it was reported that Zim had prematurely terminated the charter agreements for seven charter vessels and two subcharters, and two early charter termination contracts were confirmed by the shipowners.
It is understood that the Greek container ship owners Euroseas terminated Rena P ship and Emmanuel P ship and ZIM's existing lease, while for these vessels signed a new lease.
The current lease for the Teu -4250 Rena P, built in 2007, was originally scheduled to expire in February 2025, with a daily rent of $20250 until April 2024, followed by a minimum rent of $13000 and a maximum rent of $21000 according to the ConTex Index;
current lease for the 2005 built 4500 Teu's Emmanuel P round was scheduled to expire in March 2025 at a daily rent of $19000.
However, the Euroseas agreed to terminate the charter of the two vessels and entered into a time charter contract for a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 24 months at a daily rent of $21000. The new lease will take effect in August 2023 upon termination of the current charter.
Shipbrokers Banchero Costa and Braemar said the two vessels were re-chartered to Orient Overseas (OOCL).
Euroseas chief executive Aristides Pittas said: "Compared with the terminated charter contract, the new charter contract is expected to bring in 2 million to 4 million US dollars of additional revenue."
The Braemar report said Zim will take further steps to reduce its market risk by subletting chartered vessels.
The company said Denmark-based Maersk had leased 6078 TEUs of the Zim Pusan wheel at 36500 dollars a day for two to five months.
In addition, Zim leased 4,258 Teu Volans rounds from Costamare until April 2024 at a daily rent of US $24,250. According to the Braemar, the ship has just been leased to the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd at a price of US $21,750 per day, starting in August for a period of 11-14 months.
In addition, the Tradewinds quoted European broker sources as saying that the 4250 TEU Zim Vancouver, Zim Shekou, Zim Yokohama and Zim Qingdao are being sold by the current ship owner Chartworld to the world's largest maritime company Swiss MSC. In the process, Zim Qingdao's lease was terminated.
Zim is the world's tenth largest shipping company, and unlike other shipping companies, it leases more than 90% of its fleet, while most shipping companies own about half of its fleet.
As of May this year, Zim operated 138 container ships, of which 17 will be renewed this year and 27 next year, compared with 40 new ships scheduled for delivery in the same period. In addition to allowing leases to expire on schedule, early termination and subletting allowed Zim to offset the impact of newbuild capacity and weaker-than-expected demand.
On July 12,, Zim slashed its full-year 2023 earnings forecast. ZIM CEO Eli Glickman said: "We no longer expect freight rates to improve in the second half of 2023, which is consistent with the seasonality previously assumed."
"During the economic downturn, we will continue to actively manage and rationalize our fleet and services to maximize our cash position."
Source: one shipping