Hapag-Lloyd secures USD 4 billion green financing for 24 large containerships
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by Admin
Hapag-Lloyd on Tuesday (4 February) said it has fully secured USD 4 billion long-term financing for 24 new LNG dual-fuel, ammonia-ready containerships that it ordered from two Chinese shipyards last October.
Of these, 12 newbuildings – each with a capacity of 16,800 TEU – will be built by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group. These units will be used to expand the capacity of services that are already in place.
An additional 12 ships, each with a capacity of 9,200 TEU, have been ordered from New Times Shipbuilding Company Ltd. and will replace older units in the Hapag-Lloyd fleet that will be nearing the end of their service life in this decade.
The ships will be equipped with low-emission and fuel-efficient high-pressure liquefied gas dual-fuel engines.
In addition, these vessels can be operated using biomethane, which can reduce CO2e emissions by up to 95% compared to conventional propulsion systems. The new ships will also be ammonia ready.
Hapag-Lloyd will take delivery of the new vessels between 2027 and 2029. The newbuildings will have a combined capacity of 312,000 TEU.
The financing consists of four components. Around USD 900 million of the purchase price will be financed using the company’s own funds. A total of USD 500 million will be made available from two banks in the form of bilateral mortgage loans.
Another part, in the amount of USD 1.8 billion, will be financed via three leasing structures, and USD 1.1 billion will be financed via a syndicated credit facility backed by the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure). The financing share amounts to a total of around 80% of the investment volume, with maturities ranging between 10 and 18 years.
The financing will be carried out on the basis of Hapag-Lloyd’s Green Financing Framework, which in turn complies with the standards of the Green Loan Principles of the Loan Market Association (LMA). This has been verified by an independent expert opinion of the international classification society DNV, as has the high efficiency of the ships and their compliance with the EU Taxonomy.
“We are continuously modernizing our fleet in order to deliver a high quality of service and to achieve our ambitious decarbonization goals,” said Mark Frese, CFO/CPO of Hapag-Lloyd AG.
“The successful conclusion of several attractive financial transactions confirms that green financing components are becoming increasingly important. In addition, we are pleased to be able to finance newbuild projects in China for the first time with the Sinosure transaction.”
Photo credit: Hapag-Lloyd
Published: 5 February, 2025
