London-headquartered containership owner Global Ship Lease (GSL) has sealed a deal to acquire four 5,470 teu panamax containerships for $148m.

The vessels, which have an average age of around 11 years, are scheduled for deliver in the third quarter and will be chartered to a liner operator for a firm period of three years, with options for an additional three years.

GSL says the vessels will generate an adjusted EBITDA of around $124.4m over the firm charter period.

George Youroukos, executive chairman of Global Ship Lease, commented: “Maintaining our strong momentum of identifying and securing accretive vessel acquisitions with multi-year charters in a red-hot market, we are pleased to announce our agreement to bring these four high-spec ships into the GSL fleet. These ships are excellent examples of our strategic focus on ultra-high refrigerated container capacity. Each ship has existing capacity for 1,200 refrigerated containers – double the average for ships in the 5,000-7,000 TEU size segment – and electrical power available for more than 2,000 refrigerated containers; so, these are top-tier ships offering clear upside potential following the initial charters.”

Earlier in the month, GSL agreed a deal with Borealis Finance to acquire 12 containerships for a total of $233.9m. Once both acquisitions are finalised, GSL will own a fleet of 66 containerships.