Global Ship Lease, a containership charter owner, today announced that it has agreed to an extension of its charter with OOCL for the OOCL Qingdao, a 2004-built, 8,063 TEU containership.
The extension commences in direct continuation of the current charter with effect from March 11, 2018, at a fixed rate of $14,000 per day. Earliest redelivery is now January 1, 2019, with latest redelivery March 15, 2019 (at charterer's option).
Ian Webber, Chief Executive Officer of Global Ship Lease, commented, “We are pleased to have secured a charter extension for the OOCL Qingdao that demonstrates both our strong relationship with OOCL and an improving market for our fleet of mid-sized and smaller containerships."
Ian added: "With a robust balance sheet, predictable cash flows, and a reputation as an owner and operator of high-quality containerships, we believe Global Ship Lease is well-positioned to create additional value for shareholders.”
Global Ship Lease is a containership charter owner. Incorporated in the Marshall Islands, Global Ship Lease commenced operations in December 2007 with a business of owning and chartering out containerships under mainly long-term, fixed-rate charters to top tier container liner companies.
Global Ship Lease owns 18 vessels with a total capacity of 82,312 TEU and an average age, weighted by TEU capacity, at December 31, 2017 of 13.0 years. All 18 vessels are currently fixed on time charters, 16 of which are with CMA CGM.
The average remaining term of the charters at December 31, 2017 is 2.8 years or 3.2 years on a weighted basis, taking into account the charter extensions recently agreed for GSL Tianjin and OOCL Qingdao.
