The Athens, Greece-based containership leasing company recorded a net income of $23 million on voyage revenues of $105.5 million for the first quarter of 2017, a year-over-year decline of 34.2 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively.
Containership leasing company Costamare recorded a net income of $23 million for the first quarter of the year ending March 31 compared with $35 million for the same period last year.
Voyage revenues totaled $105.5 million for the quarter, down from $120.3 million for the first quarter of 2016.
During the quarter, Costamare had an average of 54 ships in its fleet, slightly up from 52 ships for the same 2016 period.
Costamare entered into time charter agreements for five 11,000-TEU new ships that were acquired under a joint venture with York Capital.
“The vessels have been chartered for periods of up to 12 months at an average rate of about $18,000 per day,” the company said. “The first two vessels, the Cape Akritas and Cape Tainaro, have been delivered to their charterers and have commenced operations. The third and fourth vessels, the Cape Kortia and Cape Sounio, are expected to be delivered to their charterers during the first week of May 2017, while the last vessel, the Cape Artemisio, is expected to be delivered from the shipyard and to her charterers during the second week of June 2017.”
Costamare has chartered in total seven vessels since the end of 2016 and has no ships laid up, Costamare Chief Financial Officer Gregory Zikos said.
“At the same time, we are renewing our fleet,” he added. “We have bought three secondhand vessels, which have been chartered for periods ranging from five to seven years. Those vessels are expected to be delivered within May. The ships have been bought with equity and we are in discussions with financial institutions regarding their finance.”
In a call with securities analysts where Zikos discussed the general containership market, he said, “Charter income picked up across all asset classes in recent months. The number of idle ships has significantly been reduced to 3.4 percent, which are levels we haven’t seen since the third quarter of 2015.
“In the last quarter, we put three ships chartered to seven to five years to Maersk,” he added. “There are definitely opportunities, especially in the second-hand vessels. As we all know, the newbuilding market today is not very active, I would say, quite the opposite. So, there are no significant newbuilding orders year-to-date or even during the previous quarters.”
With orders for new ships now at around 15 percent of the global fleet, he said, “We are actively looking for new transactions in this market environment and our goal is to strengthen the company and enhance long-term shareholder value.”
Costamare’s profit sinks in Q1
