Global Ship Lease Takes Delivery of 10,960 TEU Containership

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Dec 2008

Global Ship Lease, Inc., a rapidly growing containership charter owner, announced today that, as expected, it has taken delivery of a 10,960 TEU newbuilding containership. With this delivery, Global Ship Lease now operates a fleet of 16 vessels, all on fixed rate long-term time charters with an average remaining term of 10 years and a weighted average age of just over four years. The CMA CGM Thalassa is on a fixed rate 17-year time charter to CMA CGM, the world's third largest container shipping company. The purchase was funded by drawings under the Company's $800 million credit facility.
Ian Webber, Chief Executive Officer of Global Ship Lease, commented, "We are pleased to have taken delivery today of our fourth vessel since becoming a public company in August of 2008, increasing our fleet to 16 ships. With the CMA CGM Thalassa secured on a favorable 17-year fixed rate time charter, we have further increased our contracted revenue stream which now stands at approximately $1.65 billion. The successful execution of our time charter strategy has ensured that all of Global Ship Lease's vessels are secured on contracts with an average duration of 10 years."
About Global Ship Lease
Global Ship Lease is a rapidly growing 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 long-term, fixed rate charters to world class container liner companies.
Global Ship Lease currently owns 16 vessels and has contracted to purchase an additional three vessels. The Company has a contract in place to purchase an additional vessel for $82 million from CMA CGM, which is expected to be delivered in July of 2009 and also has contracts in place to purchase two newbuildings from German interests for approximately $77 million each which are scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Once all of the contracted vessels have been delivered by the end of 2010, Global Ship Lease will have a 19 vessel fleet with total capacity of 74,797 TEU and a weighted average age at that time of 7.4 years and an average remaining charter term of approximately eight years. All of the vessels including those contracted for future delivery are fixed on long-term charters.

Source: Global Ship Lease