Greek container ship owner Costamare, led by Konstantinos Konstantakopoulos, has become the latest liner company to return to the newbuilding market, announcing an order for four 3,100 TEU feeder container ships from an undisclosed Chinese shipyard.
According to Costamare’s second-quarter financial report, the four new ships are expected to be delivered between the second and fourth quarters of 2027, with each ships having an eight-year charter agreement with “a leading container shipping company”.
Details of the shipbuilding project, including the shipyard, charterer and specific price, were not disclosed, but Costamare said the project will be funded through a combination of internal cash and debt financing.
Based on recent orders, Chinese shipyards are quoting between US$45 million and US$55 million for feeder container ships with a capacity of 3,000 TEU to 3,500 TEU, depending on the ship specifications and slot availability.
It is worth noting that this new shipbuilding project marks Costamare’s return to the new shipbuilding market since the end of 2021, when it ordered several large container ships from Asian shipyards.
Right now, Costamare runs a fleet of 68 container ships with a total capacity of about 513,000 TEU (not counting new ships). Earlier this year, the company spun off its dry bulk fleet to Costamare Bulkers, which includes nearly 40 owned ships and about 50 chartered dry bulkcarriers operated through its CBI platform.