Textainer Group Holdings Limited, a major lessor of intermodal containers based on fleet size, has re-entered the refrigerated container market segment. The company has ordered 800 high-cube 40-foot reefers with Carrier and Daikin machinery for delivery in January 2008.
“We have analyzed the reefer market frequently since exiting this segment in the 1990s, but until now decided not to buy new refrigerated containers,” said John A. Maccarone, president and chief executive officer of Textainer.
“Due to attractive prices for new reefer containers, and the anticipation that our customers may choose to lease a larger percentage of their total reefer requirements, we feel this is the right time to re-enter the market,” he said. “We feel that we can place at least $30 million worth of reefers into attractive long term leases in 2008, which would increase our capital expenditure by about 10% above our original budget. We already have sales/marketing and operations/technical expertise in-house, and reefers are leased by our existing customer base which is supported by our current sales team. Therefore, the incremental overhead costs to Textainer are almost zero.”
In operation since 1979, Textainer has a total of more than 1.3 million containers, representing more than 2 million 20-ft equivalent units (TEU), in its owned and managed fleet. The firm leases containers to more than 300 shipping lines and other lessees.