Carlisle and Interpool become Seacastle

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of SeaCube Container Leasing for around US$467M.

Box demand has picked up strongly this year. With shipping lines severely cash-strapped, leasing companies are rushing to fill the gap.

Following a record trading year in 2007, UK-based Real Asset Management plc (RAM) has increased the volume of containers managed worldwide by its software to almost 1.4M TEU, up from 500,000 TEU at the start of 2007.

Reefer container demand held up strongly during 2007, prompting several high-profile lessors to dip their toes in the market for the first time.

Beacon Intermodal Leasing, the newest entrant to the international container leasing market (see WorldCargo News November 2007, p1), is to deploy the Rental4000 lease management solution from Real Asset Management (RAM) plc “Our main reason for selecting Rental4000 was our past history and relationship with the company,” said Dan DeBlasio, a member of the new Beacon management team, who previously held an executive position at Carlisle Leasing.

The recent round of consolidation in the container leasing industry that has seen Interpool and Carlisle Leasing merged under the Seacastle Container Leasing banner and the 540,000 TEU Capital Lease fleet placed under management with Textainer would appear to have opened the door for new players to enter the market.