APL and Maersk gain funding to pay for new ships

CONTAINER shipping lines APL and Maersk have secured new loans to finance the purchase of vessels.

Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), the parent company of APL, has made a filing to the Singapore stock exchange confirming that it has secured a term loan of up to US$160 million from DBS Bank in Singapore.

According to Paris-based Alphaliner newsletter, the loan will be used to partially finance the vessels of the NOL Group, whereby the vessels will be mortgaged to DBS Bank Ltd as security for the loan. DBS Bank is an associated company of Temasek Holdings, the state-owned controlling shareholder of NOL.

The report notes that APL had ordered eight 10,000-TEU vessels from the Daewoo and Hyundai shipyard in South Korea for more than $1 billion in June 2007. The ships were originally scheduled for delivery in 2011 but are now expected to arrive in 2012.

In a related development, AP Moller-Maersk has secured a DKK 2.6 billion ($523 million) loan through the state-owned Danish export credit agency Eksport Kredit Fonden (EKF) under the export lending scheme.

EKF is expected to provide the funds in phases through an agent bank to Maersk who will use the cash to help pay for newbuildings.

Alphaliner said Maersk Line has 44 container ships on order, ranging in size from 1,800- to 7,500 TEU that are slated for delivery between 2009 and 2012.

(Source: www.schednet.com)