Jun.20--THE Hanjin Philippines Shipyard of Subic Bay has received a letter of intent to order five 9,000-TEU ships with an option to purchase five more of the same size from the Greek non-operating owner Costamare.

The orders come after news that Costamare and private equity group York Capital are forming a partnership under which both companies intend to jointly invest up to US$500 million to buy containerships.

Under the terms of the agreement, Costamare will own between 25 per cent and 49 per cent of the new ships, and the remainder will be held by York Capital, reports Linervision. However, it is not yet known whether the five or ten newbuildings will be part of the joint venture with York Capital.

Costamare will reportedly pay US$80 million per ship, which are of the compact wide-beam design and measure 300 metres in length with a 48-metre beam for 19 rows of containers.

The delivery dates for the newbuildings have not been revealed, but the ships are expected to enter service from 2015.

Costamare's orderbook also includes six 9,000-TEUers and is still awaiting delivery of three of five 8,827-TEU ships from South Korea's Sungdong Shipyard to be chartered to Evergreen with first two of these smaller vessels, the Valor and Value, already delivered.

Before the end of June, Costamare will also take delivery of the first of three 9,403-TEU ships being built at China's Jangnan Changxing Shipyard and will enter long-term charters with MSC.

(Source:shippingazette)?