Taking advantage of firming prices for secondhand LPG carriers, Harry Vafias-led StealthGas has revealed it has sold three older ships – Gas Enchanted, Gas Legacy and Gas Evoluzione – for a total price of $17.5m. The buyers have not been revealed. Prices for all these ships were more than four times what was on offer from ship recycles, StealthGas stated in its first quarter report.
The sales come at a time where the New York-listed Greek owner has just completed its seven-year long, 26-ship newbuild program.
StealthGas made an EBITDA of $13.7m in the first quarter, down from $15.4m in the same period of 2017.
Board chairman Michael Jolliffe commented: “We continue to observe that our core market’s fundamentals have improved as rates for small LPG carriers are still on the rise, and the forecast is that they will continue to do so at least for the next couple of years.”
