German line Hapag-Lloyd has sealed green financing for the six dual fuel 23,500 teu ultra large container vessels ordered last year at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).
The vessels have been financed in two transactions, which have been worked according to the Green Loan Principles of the Loan Market Association (LMA) and verified by class society DNV GL.
Financing three of the ships, Hapag-Lloyd has sealed a $417m syndicated green loan backed by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE), with the syndicate consisting of 11 banks led by KfW IPEX-Bank and BNP Paribas.
The other three newbuildings are being financed in a leasing structure with China’s ICBC for the amount of $472m.
Mark Frese, chief financial officer of Hapag-Lloyd, commented: “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.”
Hapag-Lloyd says the dual-fuel engines fitted to the vessels, scheduled for delivery in 2023, will reduce CO2 emissions by around 15% to 25%.
