Or former Buffet heir apparent David Sokol for that matter but it is Chen running the larger company of the wannabe conglomerate, Atlas, and Chen who has built Seasspan into the largest non-operating ship lessor.
From The LoadStar:
MSC buys more second-hand ships and may be eyeing Seaspan newbuilds
The world’s largest non-operating containership owner, Seaspan Corporation, has ordered five newbuild 12,200 teu vessels, backed by 18-year charters with a major ocean carrier.
“All five vessels will commence long-term charters with a leading global liner company and are subject to vessel purchase obligations at the conclusion of the charters,” said Seaspan.
But it gave no details of the charterer, other than that it is a “long-standing customer”, or the construction yard.
“Executing a discreet newbuild opportunity to fulfil customer needs and achieve targeted returns is a win-win result,” said Seaspan chairman, president and CEO Bing Chen.
However, one broker source told The Loadstar today he suspected the charterer would be either Cosco, Maersk or MSC, but thought the tone of the announcement suggested the latter....
....MUCH MORE
Because there is so much financial engineering involved in what Seaspan does, buying ships with debt and chartering them out to operators it is a little spooky to look at their financials but if they keep all the plates spinning there is a lot of money to be made. And that's the dilemma for betting on either side of this one.
