MPC Container Ships is buying four 7,000 TEU vessels for $340 million, each already chartered to a top-five liner for three years, and has secured a $375 million term loan to fund ten of its newbuildings.
The owner is renewing its fleet at the point in the cycle where the classic Panamaxes are ageing out and modern, fuel-efficient tonnage in the same size band is scarce. The ships come already booked. That is the point.
The vessels were built in 2023 and 2024 and carry 7,000 TEU apiece. Delivery is set for October and November 2026, once inspections and the usual closing conditions clear, and every one arrives with a three-year fixed-rate charter to a top-five liner already attached.
Those charters are expected to bring in $180 million in revenue and $140 million in EBITDA across the three years. The purchase itself runs on a mix of bank debt and cash on hand.
A $375 million term loan covers ten of sixteen newbuildings
Separately, MPCC closed a fully underwritten $375 million senior secured term loan to finance ten of the 16 newbuildings it ordered last year. Société Générale arranged it, backed by BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, ING and KfW IPEX-Bank. The tenor runs 10 years from delivery.
A further $75 million facility for two 4,500 TEU newbuildings has credit approval and should close in the second half of 2026.
MPCC is selling AS Selina for $24 million, with handover after its current charter expires somewhere between the end of Q4 2026 and the start of Q1 2027. AS Angelina goes for $17 million, due to leave in Q3 2026. The company also fixed forward charters on two more vessels as part of the same renewal.
Both ships on the way out are described as non-strategic. In this business that is the polite word for a vessel the owner is glad to see go.
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Contract coverage runs 99% for 2026 and thins to 48% by 2028
The package lifts MPCC’s contracted revenue backlog to $2.2 billion and pushes contract coverage to 99% for 2026, 74% for 2027 and 48% for 2028.
That stairstep is not a gap. It is a decision. Lock the near years down hard, leave the far year open: if the mid-size segment stays as tight as the owner expects, the unbooked 2028 capacity re-fixes into a stronger market than today’s, and if it loosens, the secured front years still hold the floor.
On the back of it all, MPCC raised 2026 revenue guidance to $460–470 million from $450–460 million, and lifted EBITDA guidance to $280–300 million from $260–280 million.
Vessels up to 10,000 TEU are the workhorses of the intra-regional lanes, deployable on almost any route, and the modern eco versions are thin on the ground because nobody ordered enough of them while everyone chased the 24,000 TEU giants. The classic Panamaxes that used to fill this role are ageing into retirement.
The orderbook in this size class is too thin to flood the market before then, and the Panamaxes ageing out will not be replaced by wishes.