Wilbur Ross-linked Transportation Recovery Fund (TRF) and Celsius Shipping of Denmark are involved in separate deals to take five 3,500-teu boxships from the German market.

It is the first move into container shipping for the two Scandinavian-run, private-equity backed shipping operations as they make a play on low asset prices.

TRF and Celsius have turned to containers following sharp rises in the tanker and bulker markets where most of their deals have been done to date.