CSCL to make net gain of $112m from box sale
China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) plans to sell a fifth of its shipping containers for US$358.6 million to raise cash and strengthen its financial position amid a shipping downturn.
The world's ninth-largest container shipping company by capacity said in a statement it has agreed to sell 139,941 containers that have been in use for between three and six years to CLC Maritime Container Leasing, reported Dow Jones Newswires.
CLC Maritime will then lease the containers back to CSCL for four years for about $221.27 million.
The containers, with an aggregate capacity of 210,000 TEUs, represented 20 percent of CSCL's container capacity at the end of last year, it said.
It said it will use the net proceeds from the disposal for working capital, and added it expects to book a gain of around $112 million from the deal.
Word of the sale comes after the Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed container shipper in October reported that it swung to a third-quarter net profit of $157.3 million, compared with a net loss of $152.59 million a year earlier, because of improved container rates.
The company recorded a net loss of $46.5 million for the January-September period, weighed by softening international trade and persistently high fuel prices.