Greece's Danaos Corporation says it expects to sell two leased vessels, the APL Scotland and the APL Holland, to APL during June and July when their respective charter contracts expire for a total of US$88 million.

The move comes as APL has decided to exercise its purchase option regarding the two ships, according to the terms of its existing agreement with Danaos. The sale also includes a third containership for APL.

"The expected delivery of three of our vessels to APL in 2007, following the declaration of the purchase options attached to them - which include the APL England for which the option was declared in 2006 - will bring to our company another $132 million," said Dr Coustas, chief executive officer of Danaos, an international owner of containerships.

"The expected additions of four new containerships, scheduled for 2007, all of which are already chartered for 12 years each, will lower the average age and increase the average time charter duration profile of our fleet while at the same time increasing our revenues."

He added in a company statement that the proceeds of the sales will be used in part to finance the company's newbuilding and delivery programme for the next three years.

The company currently has ordered 15 containerships which will add 75,124 TEU to its fleet, with deliveries scheduled up to the end of 2009.

The Danaos Corporation charters vessels to many of the top global liner companies. Its current fleet of 31 containerships aggregating 140,137 TEU ranks Danaos among the largest containership charter owners in the world based on total TEU capacity.