Greek boxship owner Euroseas will more than double its money with a new charter deal for its 2004-built EM Astoria.
.The 2,788 teu vessel has been fixed to an undisclosed liner between 36 and 38 months at a daily rate of $65,000 for the first twelve months, followed by a daily rate of $50,000 for the subsequent twelve months, and $20,000 per day for the remaining twelve to fourteen months. The average daily rate is about $45,000 for the duration of the charter.
The new charter will commence next month after the completion of the present charter with CMA CGM, who, according to VesselsValue data, is paying around $18,600 per day. Euroseas did not say if the French liner would be keeping the vessel.
Aristides Pittas, chairman and CEO of Euroseas, commented: “The rate of this new charter is on average about 2.5 times higher than the present charter rate of the vessel while the charter payments are heavily front-loaded. The new charter secures us with a minimum of $47m of contracted revenues and is expected to make a total EBITDA contribution in excess of $36m over the three years of the contract. This charter also increases our charter coverage to about 92% for 2022, more than 60% for 2023 and about 45% for 2024.
Pittas added that Euroseas’ high contract coverage would generate significant cash flow over the next two to three years, which the Nasdaq-listed company intends to use to grow and modernise or reward shareholders either through dividends or share buybacks.
