Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In 2018, ICBC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (ICBC Leasing), a Chinese state-owned leasing company and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), entered into a sale-and-leaseback agreement with F.lli Onorato Armatori S.r.l. — an Italy-incorporated holding company owned by Italian businessmen and brothers Achille Onorato and Alessandro Onorato, directors of Moby S.p.A. (and sons of its chairman) — for two new luxury uxury roll-on/roll-off passenger (RoPax) ferries for Moby S.p.A., an Italian shipping company headquartered in Milan operating ferries and cruiseferries between France, Italy, and the islands of Elba, Sardinia and Corsica. Record ID#109574 captures ICBC's commitment. The new ships, which were 237-meters long by 33-meters with 69,500 of gross tonnage with a capacity of 2,500 passengers and 3,675 lane meters for vehicles across 13 decks and amenities for passengers including 441 cabins, 403 armchair seats, two bars, two restaurants, a promenade, and a children’s play area, as well as equipped with hybrid scrubber systems and an option to switch to liquefied natural gas (LNG), were constructed under contract from Guangzhou Shipyard International (later renamed CSSC Offshore and Marine Engineering Company) and designed by OSK-Shiptech (with Steen Friis Design as interior designer), with delivery scheduled for 2021 and 2022; on February 11, 2018, Onorato on behalf of Moby signed an agreement for the newbuildings. Then, in November 2018, F.lli Onorato Armatori S.r.l. signed a private agreement to charter the two ro-paxes to Moby S.p.A.. Another finalized signing ceremony for the construction contract was held on June 27, 2019, with an option for two further newbuilds. The first ship would be delivered in 36 months (circa June 2022). Steel cutting of the first ship would be in mid-2020 year from now with a building time of 24 months. The second ship as well as the third and fourth ship (if the options are exercised) should come with six-month intervals. The two ships were named "Moby Fantasy" and "Moby Legacy" and would operate between Livorno on the Italian mainland and the island of Sardinia. "Moby Fantasy" was completed on or around March 24, 2023. It was delivered in early May 2023. "Moby Legacy" was completed on or around July 7, 2023. "Moby Legacy" was delivered on or around December 21, 2023. On May 10, 2023, CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping Company Limited — a Hong Kong-incorporated majority Chinese state-owned company headquartered in Hong Kong and listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong — via its two Hong Kong-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiaries Fortune Ropax I Shipping Limited and Fortune Ropax II Shipping Limited signed a finance lease agreement for a sale-and-leaseback agreement with F.lli Onorato Armatori S.r.l. for the two RoPax ferries for a consideration of €156,000,000 EUR. This lease had a term of 10 years and an estimated lease interest of €85,403,000 EUR. Onorato Armatori Srl and Moby S.p.A. issued guarantees for the transaction. Record ID#109603 captures CSSC's sale-and-leaseback. By May 2023, China Eximbank provided a loan to Guangzhou Shipyard International for the construction of "Moby Fantasy". Record ID#109604 captures the China Eximbank loan.
Staff comments
1. Moby S.p.A. operates in the passengers and freight maritime transportation between mainland Italy and France and major and minor islands: Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Tuscan Archipelago, Tremiti Islands and Malta. It also operates in the sector of harbor, open water and rescue tugboats and manages the Olbia port operations and operates at the Livorno and Catania ports, performing the embarking and disembarking of commercial vehicles and provides freight and passenger ticketing services. It also began operating in the Baltic sea, carrying passengers between the ports of Saint Petersburg, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn. F.lli Onorato Armatori would merge into Moby. 2. It is unclear whether the CSSC sale-and-leaseback replaced the previous ICBC Leasing or that agreement merely expired or never actually went fully through. AidData has coded the project_status field as Completion, but this issue merits further investigation. 3. It is possible unclear the China Eximbank loan was also used for "Moby Legacy", but only its use for "Moby Fantasy" is known.