Greek container ship owners Euroseas Ltd. reports results for the nine-Month Period and quarter ended September 30, 2024, and Announces Order for the Construction of two fuel-efficient 4,300 TEU container ships in China.
In November 2024, the Euroseas concluded a contract for the construction of two modern fuel-efficient container vessels each to be built at Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding CO., Ltd., in China. The vessels are scheduled to be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2027. The total consideration for each of these two newbuilding contracts is approximately $60 million and will be financed with a combination of debt and equity.
Considering the current fleet dynamics within their segments and their growing cash reserves, Euroseas has decided to extend their newbuilding program. They have ordered two 4300 TEU vessels to strengthen their position in this segment, in addition to meeting the needs of their dividend distribution and share repurchase program.
Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented: “During the third quarter of 2024, the containership markets remained around the levels reached during the first half of the year although chartering activity slowed down. However, in October and through midNovember 2024, the market has strengthened and charterers’ interest in concluding charters, many of them with forward fixings, increased. As already announced, we managed to charter at very profitable rates not only three of our newbuildings, two of which are to be delivered in January 2025, but also two of our elder, 23-year old feeders, for periods of about three years for the newbuilds and between fourteen and eighteen months for the 23-year olds.
The main challenge the containership sector has to overcome is the relatively high orderbook as a percentage of the fleet. However, this orderbook is concentrated on larger vessels sizes. On the contrary, the orderbook for the feeder and intermediate segments, within which we operate, is very modest against a fleet age profile that includes a high percentage of vessels older than twenty years, thus resulting in expectations of minimal fleet growth or, even, fleet decline.”