KBRA Upgrades Ratings for Seaspan Corporation

KBRA upgrades the issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to BBB- from BB+ for Seaspan Corporation ("Seaspan" or the "company") and affirms the company’s BBB senior secured debt rating. The rating Outlook is Stable.

In addition, KBRA upgrades the issuer rating of Atlas Corp. ("Atlas"), Seaspan’s 100% holding company owner, to BBB- from BB+ and simultaneously withdraws the rating. The rating is being withdrawn at the issuer’s request given Atlas’ debt instruments were fully redeemed in connection with its delisting of securities and deregistration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Key Credit Considerations

The rating upgrade reflects continued strengthening of Seaspan’s business and funding profiles, including increased scale and contracted cash flows, increased average charter term (to 10.4 years as of March 31, 2026 (2Q26)) with staggered charter maturities, improved funding flexibility with a significant increase in the unencumbered fleet value and quality in recent years and proven access to unsecured debt markets. In addition, the company has demonstrated consistently high utilization (99% since 2005) and stable earnings performance through market cycles. In KBRA’s view, these factors further increase Seaspan’s resilience through shipping cycles and support the credit profile despite an expected moderate leverage increase in the near-term to fund the company’s newbuild program.

The secured debt rating affirmation reflects upward notching compression from the issuer rating as KBRA places greater emphasis on probability of default and less emphasis on loss severity for investment grade issuers.

The ratings are supported by Seaspan’s long operating history and leading competitive position as the world’s largest independent containership owner and operator with approximately 16% market share by twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), an experienced management team and diverse fleet of high-quality vessels on long-term charters. The company’s long-term contracted business model provides strong earnings visibility, supported by approximately $34.9 billion of gross contracted cash flows with diversified exposures to the top 10 global container liners, although with some degree of customer concentration inherent in the consolidated liner industry. Pro-forma for its newbuild program (63 undelivered newbuilds), Seaspan had 247 vessels and approximately 2.5 million TEUs as of 2Q26, with an average fleet age of approximately six years.

The company maintains moderate leverage, diverse funding sources, and a solid liquidity profile. Leverage on a debt-to-equity basis remained moderate at 2.1x as of 2Q26. Leverage may increase slightly in the near-term to fund the company’s newbuild program but is expected to revert to back to current levels in the medium-term. The liquidity profile is supported by stable operating cash flow, available credit lines, and access to the capital markets. As of 2Q26, the company had $1.24 billion of available liquidity, $4.95 billion of committed undrawn newbuild financing, a significant unencumbered asset base ($2.5 billion net book value), and increasing funding diversification with proven access to unsecured funding (representing ~10% of total debt).

The ratings are constrained by inherent customer concentration in leading liner companies, shipping industry cyclicality, longer-term rechartering, and residual-value risk that must be managed, and execution requirements associated with the sizable newbuild program. The funding profile also remains predominantly secured despite progress in expanding unsecured funding sources.

Rating Sensitivities

The rating Outlook is Stable; therefore, a rating upgrade in the near future is not expected. Positive rating momentum could develop if Seaspan continues to demonstrate stable earnings and cash flow generation while reducing and sustaining leverage at lower levels, further diversifying its funding profile with a significant increase in unsecured debt (as a proportion of total debt), and significantly expanding its unencumbered asset base.

Negative rating pressure could arise from a sustained downturn in global container trade that materially weakens charterer credit quality, vessel utilization or charter rates with significant negative impacts on earnings, leverage, liquidity, or access to funding. A material default by a large charter customer, deterioration in the company’s funding profile, or execution challenges associated with the newbuild program could also negatively affect the rating. Changes in financial policy that result in material upstreaming of capital to Seaspan’s holding company, Atlas Corp., weakening Seaspan’s liquidity or capitalization, could also lead to negative rating pressure.

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