$5 Billion Investment Made in Asian Maritime Market

 

The Carlyle Group has teamed up with Seaspan and other key maritime players in Asia, Dennis Washington, Gerry Wang, and Graham Porter, to expand upon the growing demand of cargo in Asia, particularly China, with containership and tanker proliferation. 

Carlyle Group stated that they will be investing the $4.95Billion into containerships that transport consumer goods, dry bulk carriers with coal and iron ore, and tankers bringing in oil and LNG.  The opportunity for growth and rising demand of energy resources and steel merits their vast investment into trade.

Containership company and venture partner, Seaspan, has placed a $2 billion order for 22 newbuilds with Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang.  The New Panamax vessels will cost around $98 million a piece and about 30% more energy efficient than previous models. 

The new company is slotted to acquire many shipping vessels, with $900 million in the first 5 years to go towards buying container, dry bulk, tankers, and other shipping assets. Carlyle will be attributing $750 million, Seaspan agreed to invest $100 million but only in container vessels, and the rest of that $900m will stem from other shareholders. 

A statement from Carlyle expressed that their focus is to bring together Chinese shipbuilding, lenders, and state-owned companies to help support the nation’s desire to increase Chinese-controlled cargo.  They also believe that the sheer scale of this business venture will allow them to realize volume discounts for newbuild orders, negotiation design improvements from shipyards, and obtain more desirable vessel financing than a single company could achieve.