Box Ships Wraps Up Loan Amendments

Greece-based container shipping company Box Ships Inc. has signed a deal with the last remaining lender, a process launched in January to amend the terms of its loan agreements and improve its liquidity.

Box Ships agreed with the lender to waive certain covenants and amend the repayment profile of the loan through its maturity.

In return for paying the next four installments up front, the bank has agreed to defer the following four installments so that no additional principal payments will be made until 2017, the company detailed.

 Michael Bodouroglou, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented: “With this final agreement, the company has enough liquidity and optionality to get through at least the next two years even if the market remains weak. However, we continue to see signs of improvement in the containership market, as charter rates for our size vessels have remained firm through the seasonally weak end of the year period and the idle fleet remains at historically low levels. This firm footing, coupled with expected demand growth of 6% in 2015 point to an improving market going forward.”

Box Ships has a fleet of nine containerships with a total carrying capacity of 43,925 TEU and a TEU weighted-average age of 9.9 years.

Image: Port of Hamburg