John Coustas-led Danaos Corp, a New York-listed owner, has bolstered its newbuilding orderbook with two more ships. The company added in December a pair of 9,200 TEU newbuilding containerships to its orderbook, which have expected deliveries in 2027.
Meanwhile, it took delivery of 6 newbuilding containerships in 2024 and 1 in January 2025.
In January the shipowner took delivery of its 7th newbuilding containership, the Phoebe, which was deployed on a seven-year time charter.
The company’s remaining orderbook currently consists of a further 15 newbuilding containership vessels with an aggregate capacity of 128,220 TEU, with expected deliveries of one vessel in 2025, three vessels in 2026, nine vessels in 2027 and two vessels in 2028.
John Coustas-led Danaos Corp revealed in its unaudited results for the period ended December 31, 2024, that it had secured “multi-year charter arrangements for 13 of the remaining 15 newbuilding vessels orderbook, with an average charter duration of approximately 5.1 years weighted by aggregate contracted charter hire.”
Over the past three months, the company added approximately $336m to its contracted revenue backlog through a combination of new charters and charter extensions for 11 of its container vessels and container vessels newbuildings.
As a result, total contracted cash operating revenues, on the basis of concluded charter contracts, currently stand at $3.4bn, including newbuildings. The remaining average contracted charter duration for the company’s containership fleet is 3.7 years, weighted by aggregate contracted charter hire.
The contracted operating days charter coverage for Danaos container vessel fleet is currently 97% for 2025 and 79% for 2026. This includes newbuildings based on their scheduled delivery dates.
Meanwhile, the shipowner reports that it took delivery of all of its contracted capesize drybulk carriers by taking delivery of two vessels in the second quarter of 2024 and one vessel in July 2024. As a result, Danaos capesize drybulk fleet currently stands at 10 vessels with an aggregate capacity of approximately 1.8 million dwt.
Danaos’ CEO Dr. John Coustas commented: “The world is entering uncharted territory and any near-term predictions about the direction of shipping markets are inherently unreliable. The tariff war is bound to generate disruptions, which have historically benefited shipping. However, an economic slowdown might negate these benefits.
“The dry bulk market continues to suffer from ongoing malaise due to the pace of the recovery of the Chinese economy, which has not shown signs of accelerating. The delivery of new tonnage starting this year will add to this weakness, particularly in the panamax and smaller segments, where the orderbook is concentrated. The capesize segment, where our fleet is concentrated, continues to have an orderbook that remains at historically low levels.
“The container charter market remains healthy, albeit liners are exhibiting more caution, particularly with respect to more forward dates. While box rates are weakening, they are still much higher than pre-pandemic levels. We will have to wait until after Chinese New Year to gauge the effect of the front-loading of exports that occurred in anticipation of tariffs and the demand pattern in the new trade environment.
“Danaos is highly insulated from near-term market uncertainty, with 97% coverage for 2025 and 79% for 2026 at healthy rates, shielding us from market volatility. Our charter backlog of $3.4 billion provides us with a certainty of income and firepower to explore accretive investments. We have chartered 13 out of our 15 newbuildings for five years and have arranged a new $850 million facility from a bank syndicate to fully cover the financing of all vessels on order.”
