Hapag-Lloyd secures green financing for six large box ships on order

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  • Syndicated loan of $417 million will be used to finance three of the six container ships on order
  • Lease financing of $472 million will be for the remaining three newbuildings
  • The vessels are being built in South Korea and are scheduled to be delivered in 2023

German ocean carrier Hapag-Lloyd announced it has concluded its first ever two green financing transactions, the funding to be used to finance six ultra-large 23,500-TEU container ships it ordered in December 2020.

“Our first green financings are a major milestone for us, as we are breaking new ground in the container shipping segment by financing newbuilding projects geared towards sustainability. The transactions will help us to modernise our fleet while further reducing our CO2 footprint at the same time,” said Mark Frese, chief financial officer of Hapag-Lloyd.

The two financing transactions were concluded according to the Green Loan Principles of the Loan Market Association (LMA). This has also been verified by an independent expert in the form of a secondary party opinion of the DNV GL. The green loan market aims to facilitate and support environmentally sustainable economic activity.

The syndicated green loan amounting to US$417 million has a 12-year maturity and will be used to finance three of the six container ships on order. The credit facility is being backed by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, and the syndicate consists of 11 banks.

The lease financing for the remaining three newbuildings is in the amount of $472 million, has a maturity of 17 years plus construction-phase financing, and has been structured by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Leasing.

RELATED READ: Hapag-Lloyd orders six 23,500-TEU ships for Asia-Europe trade

With their extremely fuel-efficient high-pressure dual-fuel engines, the newbuildings will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by about 15% to 25%, said Hapag-Lloyd.

This means that in addition to the requirements of the LMA’s Green Loan Principles, the ships will also satisfy the EU Taxonomy’s technical screening criteria for sea and coastal freight water transport.

The vessels are being built in South Korea and are scheduled to be delivered in 2023.

Photo courtesy of Hapag-Lloyd