K Line is looking at opportunities to acquire ultra-large containerships in a move that could see the Japanese shipping giant become the final CKYH member to join the mega-ship club.
A Tokyo-based source said K Line was in talks to build five ultra-large boxships at Imabari Shipbuilding in a newbuilding or a lease deal.
Meanwhile, United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) has approached a number of shipyards about a huge shipbuilding order that could include vessels of up to 18,000teu.
Talks are at a very early stage, according to market sources, with no firm decision likely before the second quarter.
But if the line does decide to order ships with a nominal capacity of 18,000teu, it would be the only one to have followed Maersk Line, which will take delivery of the first of its Triple-E ships this year.
According to brokers, when K Line’s fellow CKYH alliance member Yang Ming tendered to charter five 14,000teu containerships with options for five more from 2015, the Taiwanese liner’s plan was to control five ships itself while the optional ones would be controlled by fellow alliance member K Line.
Therefore, if K Line is able to complete its own negotiations, it becomes doubtful whether Yang Ming would still need to attach the options to its deal, expected to be concluded by the end of February.
Yang Ming earlier said the optional vessels were for an “alliance requirement”, but did not immediately reply to inquiries. K Line declined to comment.
The other two CKYH members – Cosco Container Lines and Hanjin Shipping – are already operating boxships above 10,000teu in Asia-Europe trades.
Sources involved said Yang Ming was finalising its deal to charter at least five megaships from Seaspan, which would place the newbuilding orders at Hyundai Heavy Industries at reportedly slightly below $110 million apiece.
UASC, which has yet to respond to emailed questions about the reported order enquiry, would probably pay considerably less than for the 13,500teu ships it contracted in mid-2008, just weeks before the banking crash.
That series of nine cost around $1.5 billion, or nearly $170 million each, whereas ships of comparable size recently ordered for Evergreen were about a third less.
A Tokyo-based source said K Line was in talks to build five ultra-large boxships at Imabari Shipbuilding in a newbuilding or a lease deal.
Meanwhile, United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) has approached a number of shipyards about a huge shipbuilding order that could include vessels of up to 18,000teu.
Talks are at a very early stage, according to market sources, with no firm decision likely before the second quarter.
But if the line does decide to order ships with a nominal capacity of 18,000teu, it would be the only one to have followed Maersk Line, which will take delivery of the first of its Triple-E ships this year.
According to brokers, when K Line’s fellow CKYH alliance member Yang Ming tendered to charter five 14,000teu containerships with options for five more from 2015, the Taiwanese liner’s plan was to control five ships itself while the optional ones would be controlled by fellow alliance member K Line.
Therefore, if K Line is able to complete its own negotiations, it becomes doubtful whether Yang Ming would still need to attach the options to its deal, expected to be concluded by the end of February.
Yang Ming earlier said the optional vessels were for an “alliance requirement”, but did not immediately reply to inquiries. K Line declined to comment.
The other two CKYH members – Cosco Container Lines and Hanjin Shipping – are already operating boxships above 10,000teu in Asia-Europe trades.
Sources involved said Yang Ming was finalising its deal to charter at least five megaships from Seaspan, which would place the newbuilding orders at Hyundai Heavy Industries at reportedly slightly below $110 million apiece.
UASC, which has yet to respond to emailed questions about the reported order enquiry, would probably pay considerably less than for the 13,500teu ships it contracted in mid-2008, just weeks before the banking crash.
That series of nine cost around $1.5 billion, or nearly $170 million each, whereas ships of comparable size recently ordered for Evergreen were about a third less.
Japanese carrier “K” Line has announced that it will report a profit in the third quarter of fiscal year 2013, ending March 31, after some investment securities were re-evaluated and a loss of 14.4 billion yen (about US$163.3 million) was reversed.
The loss was recorded as market prices of the investment securities had “fallen substantially” and would not be likely to recover during the first two quarters, the company said in a written statement.
However, the market prices of some of those investment securities have recovered in the third quarter and the profit from the reversal of the loss will be processed accordingly, the company added.
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