Greece´s Seanergy Maritime Holdings led-by Stamatis Tsantanis has reduced the average age of its fleet by approximately one year through purchase and sale transactions. The company has reduced the age of its fleet whilst evaluates its options with respect to accretive vessel acquisitions.
The chairman and chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis pointed out that Athens-based Seanergy followed a fleet renewal strategy as at the end of the year 2022 the company took delivery of a scrubber fitted capesize vessel built in 2012 in Japan, the “Paroship.” The vessel entered a time charter with a major European ship operator for a period of about 10 months at an index linked rate with the majority of the scrubber profit being assigned to Seanergy.
This was the second vessel purchased by the company in 2022, following the acquisition of the 2010 Japanese-built Honorship in the second quarter, also chartered to NYK and for a period of about 20 to about 24 months on an index linked rate. These vessels replaced the older “Goodship” and “Tradership”, built in 2005 and 2006, respectively, which Seanergy agreed to sell in the fourth quarter of 2022 to United Maritime, as well as the 2004-built “Gloriuship” that was spun-off in July 2022 as part of United Maritime.
He also said the scrubber profit sharing schemes of Seanergy´s fleet have been improved, which will add meaningfully to the company´s revenues in 2023 and beyond.
Looking forward, he said the company evaluates its options with respect to returning capital to shareholders and accretive vessel acquisitions.
Regarding the current market conditions he see signs of recovery with spot rates and forward curves moving up substantially in recent days. He also notes that vessel values have remained firm through the recent months.
“Regarding current market conditions, we are glad to see that the seasonal spot market weakness was short-lived, and we already see signs of recovery with spot rates and forward curves moving up substantially in recent days. We also note that vessel values have remained firm through the recent months based on our sector’s strong forward outlook,” he said in a statement.
As he pointed out “with dry bulk fleet growth at the lowest levels on record and with demand for dry bulk commodities expected to rebound after the reopening of China, we remain confident in the long-term prospects of the market, and believe that Seanergy is very well positioned to benefit from the widely anticipated rebound in the sector.”
It is worth mentioning that in July 2022, the company completed the spin-off of United Maritime Corporation, which commenced trading on the Nasdaq capital market on July 6, 2022.
The top management said “the distribution of all of United’s common shares to our shareholders represents an additional significant return of value.”
