Bertram Rickmers has taken another step towards rebuilding his fleet by investing family funds in two more feeder containership newbuildings.

Rickmers’ privately-owned Asian Spirit Steamship has exercised options for a pair of 1,162-teu boxships at Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding in China, market sources said.

The move lifts to eight the number of so-called Bengalmax newbuildings of this size ordered by Rickmers in a series of newbuildings initiated by MarLink Project Management.