Hapag-Lloyd is looking to sell and charter back five small containerships that operate on a transatlantic service, which it is upgrading to larger vessels.
The German liner operator is set to sell five 3,237-teu vessels that trade between the US and northern Europe and replace them with ships of more than 7,000 teu.
But it does not want the sale, worth an estimated $75m, to reduce its fleet at a time when the market is booming.
