MSC has bought BAL Container Line’s two 14,000 teu vessels being built at Jiangnan Shipyard, as the Swiss-Italian mainline operator continues to consolidate its record market leadership (by capacity) position.
Shanghai-based BAL, which operates a South-east Asia-Japan service, ordered the ships when it ventured into long-haul lanes during the pandemic-induced boom in 2022.
However, BAL’s intermediate holding company, LC Logistics, said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing on Wednesday, the group had decided to realise a profit from selling the newbuildings, set to be delivered between July and September next year.
The filing says the two vessels will be acquired, one each, by MSC’s special purpose vehicles, Laudine Oceanway and Aludra Oceanway.
BAL had paid $84.3m toward the cost of the vessels, but MSC will pay $133.3m, bringing BAL a $49m profit. This excludes another $3.3m MSC will pay BAL for the equipment on the vessels and the outstanding sum of $196.7m due to Jiangnan Shipyard for the vessel construction.
As BAL is more familiar with the construction status of the ships, it will continue to supervise and follow up the vessel-building process for MSC.
BAL however, might still be in the market for large ships: the company has reportedly signed a letter of intent with Jiangnan Shipyard for four more 14,000 teu ships, as it has recently returned to the long-haul trades with its reactivated China-Mexico service.