NEW York-listed owner of containerships Global Ship Lease has confirmed sale-and-purchase deals for seven ships.

The shipowner, with a diversified fleet of mid-sized and smaller containerships, sold three older ships, consistent with the company's fleet renewal strategy, reports Shipping Telegraph.

The 2000-built Tasman, 5,900 TEU, the 2002-built Akiteta, 2,200 TEU, and the 2003-built Keta, 2,200 TEU, are contracted for sale for an aggregate price of US$54.5 million, compared to an aggregate book value on December 31 of $24.9 million, the company said.

The sale of Tasman was agreed in December 2024, while those of Keta and Akiteta were agreed in February 2025.

Akiteta was delivered to her new owners on February 19 and the remaining two ships are scheduled for delivery to their new owners in first-half 2025.

Meanwhile, the company purchased four high-reefer, eco-9,000 TEU containerships, with charters attached, for an aggregate price of $274 million, and agreed 10-year financing priced at secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) +2.50 per cent.

Three of these vessels were delivered to the company in December 2024 and the fourth in January 2025.

The company's fleet of 71 vessels as of December 31 had an average age weighted by TEU capacity of 17.6 years.

George Youroukos, Global Ship Lease executive chairman, stated: "Demand for our well-specified, fuel-efficient vessels was very firm throughout 2024, and remains so today. We have taken advantage of these tailwinds to secure extended charter coverage across our fleet, adding US$885 million of contracted revenues to our already-substantial backlog.

"In many cases, we have been able to secure attractive, multi-year coverage even for our oldest ships.

"Clearly, shippers have been positioning as much inventory as they can," he said.

"There has been a real surge in cross-border rate, volume and rate volatility between the two countries and some of the highest rates we've seen in a couple of years."

What had been a relatively tariff-free world for many of the companies he serves suddenly became one in which they had to scramble to come up with the funds to pay 25 per cent of the value of imports.

At trucking company Grupo Fletes Mexico, which is headquartered in the border city of Ciudad Juarez and has operations around Mexico, customers are asking for discounts to offset higher costs from the tariffs, said its chief executive officer Miguel Gomez.

But with slim margins, he said he cannot afford to say yes.

If the tariffs remain in place for long, he said, he may need to lay off some of the company's 2,600 employees or rethink plans for investment and growth.

"We don't really have many options to reduce costs," he said. "There is a lot of uncertainty and instability."