Box Ships Inc., or the Company, a global shipping company specializing in the transportation of containers, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with an unaffiliated third party to purchase the MSC Emma, a 5,060 TEU Panamax containership built in 2004 at the Hanjin Heavy Industries shipyard in Korea.
The $55 million for the acquisition will be financed without issuing any additional equity. The Company also announced that ithas entered the vessel into a period time charter agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co. S.A. for three years at a gross daily rate of $28,500 with the charterer’s having an option to extend the time charter at the same rate for an additional one-year term starting upon the vessel’s delivery to Box Ships on orbefore August 29th, 2011.
Commenting on the recent events, Michael Bodouroglou, Chairman, President and CEO of the Company stated “ With the addition of the MSC Emma, we are delivering on our strategy to expand the fleet by purchasing a vessel that is accretive to both our earnings and dividend per share. In addition, we increased our contracted charter coverage to 93% of our revenue days in 2012, 71% in 2013, and 41% in2014 by securing employment for the vessel for three years at an attractive rate, and further diversifying our portfolio of charterers, while maintaining a solid balance sheet with approximately 53% leverage afterthe planned acquisition. We remain alert to identify the proper expansion opportunities to take advantage of the attractive fundamentals in the containership sector and in a manner that increases our free cash flow and dividends to shareholders .”
About Box Ships Inc.
Box Ships Inc. is an Athens, Greece-based international shipping company specializing in the transportation of containers. The Company’s current fleet consists of six containerships with a total
carrying capacity of 28,177 TEU’s and a weighted-average age of 2.8 years with an agreement to acquire an additional containership that will increase the total capacity to 33,237 TEU’s with a weighted-average
age of 3.6 years. The Company’s shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TEU.”
[mappress] Source: Box Ships Inc. , July 13, 2011