Euroseas Ltd. takes delivery of acquired container vessel and sale of feeder container vessel
Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA) (the “Company”), an owner and operator of drybulk and container carrier vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for drybulk and containerized cargoes, has taken delivery of M/V Akinada Bridge, a 5,600 teu post-Panamax size container vessel built in 2001 in South Korea, which the Company had previously agreed to acquire, Euroseas said Wednesday.
Following its delivery, the vessel will commence during the first week of January, a 50-120 day charter at a gross daily rate of $11,250. The sale of this vessel concludes the disposition of the vessels of Euromar LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company that previously was partially owned by the Company.
Furthermore, the Company announced that it sold one of its 90’s-built container feeder vessels, M/V Aggeliki P, a 2,008 teu vessel built in 1998, for a gross price of about $4.6 million. The vessel which has already been delivered to its new owners was due for her special survey.
Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas, commented: “We are very pleased to complete the present phase of our fleet growth and renewal program which, we believe, has positioned Euroseas to take advantage of the recovering shipping markets. For both drybulk and containership sectors, the orderbook-to-fleet ratio is near its lowest levels of the last two decades indicating minimal supply pressure over the next couple of years. Maintenance of the present market levels should return Euroseas to profitability while any strengthening of the charter rates should provide significant upside to our shareholders and, we hope, also reduce the significant discount to net asset value our stock trades at. We continue to pursue accretive growth opportunities and, as we have stated, consider mergers with other fleets either on a combined fleet basis or separately for the drybulk or container vessels of our fleet.”
About Euroseas Ltd.: Euroseas Ltd. was formed on May 5, 2005 under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands to consolidate the ship owning interests of the Pittas family of Athens, Greece, which has been in the shipping business over the past 140 years. Euroseas trades on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker ESEA. Euroseas operates in the dry cargo, drybulk and container shipping markets. Euroseas' operations are managed by Eurobulk Ltd., an affiliated ship management company. Euroseas employs its vessels on spot and period charters and through pool arrangements.
The Company has a fleet of 17 vessels in the water, including one Kamsarmax drybulk carrier, three Panamax drybulk carriers, one Ultramax drybulk carrier, one Handymax drybulk carrier, ten Feeder containerships and one post-Panamax containership. Besides, the Euroseas placed order for one Kamsarmax vessel.