Global Ship Lease confirms expanded newbuild programme

Global Ship Lease New York-listed containership owner Global Ship Lease (GSL) has expanded its newbuilding programme with contracts for a further five midsize boxships. The latest vessels are priced at about $413m in total and are scheduled for delivery in 2029.GSL said the ships have been fixed on multi-year charters, with a teu-weighted average firm period of 8.1 years. The charter deals are expected to generate about $362m in adjusted EBITDA over the median firm periods. Extension options could add a further $131m and increase the average term by around 2.2 years. The latest order takes GSL’s newbuilding programme to 15 ships. Earlier this month, Splash reported that the George Youroukos-led owner had made its first move into the newbuilding market with 10 midsize, ultra-high-reefer, wide-beam containerships in a deal worth about $917m. Together, the 15 newbuildings are expected to generate more than $1bn of adjusted EBITDA over an average firm charter period of 7.1 years. “As with the 10 ships we announced earlier this month, we believe that these additional five best-in-class vessels are ideally positioned to serve as the workhorses of the global container shipping fleet for many years to come,” said Youroukos, executive chairman of GSL, adding: “As some of the existing ‘cash cows’ of the GSL fleet begin to age out, the addition of these new vessels with multi-year charters will not only materially reduce our average fleet age but also provide us with a substantially extended cash generation runway into the decades ahead.” The company has not named the yards or charterers. Splash also reported earlier this week that GSL had emerged as one of three owners behind a 13-ship containership haul at CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, alongside Chinese owner Jiangsu Ocean Shipping (JOSCO) and Germany’s Peter Döhle. Adis Ajdin Adis is an experienced news reporter with a background in finance, media and education. He has written across the spectrum of offshore energy and ocean industries for many years and is a member of International Federation of Journalists. Previously he had written for Navingo media group titles including Offshore Energy, Subsea World News and Marine Energy. Read Next June 25, 2026 Semco Maritime lands offshore services contract with INEOS June 25, 2026 TotalEnergies awards decom work to Ocean Installer June 25, 2026 Vår Energi doubles down on North Sea hub strategy June 25, 2026 SeaBird Exploration adds West Africa work to 2026 schedule June 25, 2026 Hormuz moves from shutdown to managed recovery Back to top button