INDEPENDENT charter owner of containerships, Seaspan, has posted a 10.4 per cent year-on-year rise in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2014 to US$189.4 million.
Excluding special items, the New York-listed company's net profit in the fourth quarter came in at $40.1 million, up 20 per cent from the same period of the previous year. For the full-year Seaspan reported normalised net profit of $139 million, a 14.6 per cent improvement on 2013.
CEO Gerry Wang gave a positive outlook on the liner industry predicting that ocean carriers would enjoy a good year from the benefits of cheaper fuel and the "unstoppable trend" of bigger ships bringing lower unit costs.
Seaspan owns a fleet of 77 container ships ranging from 2,500 TEU to 13,100 TEU on long-term charter to "blue chip" container lines on fixed daily hire rates, which Mr Wang says insulates the company from market volatility.
It has total committed charter hire revenue of $6 billion with Hapag-Lloyd, CSCL, Cosco and "K" Line, among others.
Furthermore, Seaspan has a newbuild order book of five 10,000-TEU and eight 14,000-TEU ships, for delivery this year and next and all of which, barring one 10,000 vessel, has a time charter in place effective from delivery.
The company took delivery of six fuel-efficient 10,000-TEU SAVER ships in 2014 and raised $1.6 billion in the capital markets to finance its newbuild programme.
Many of Seaspan's fleet are chartered for up to 12 years with the average remaining life term of its charter parties at five years. However, it also has 11 Panamax ships with charters due to expire this year and nine more in 2016 which may present it with a challenge when seeking to either re-fix or sell.
Mr Wang said Seaspan was in continuous discussions with carriers who are urgently looking to upgrade their fleet and wished to lease rather than purchase new ships to avoid the capital expenditure.
Although, Seaspan has made no secret of on-going discussions with ship yards in South Korea and China it is so far yet to commit to order any vessels in the ultra-large 16,000-19,000 TEU sector.
Furthermore, negotiations with container lines are believed to have foundered on the obstacle of a 15-year charter demanded by the owner.
WORLD SHIPPING
01 March 2015 - 19:14
Seaspan warns it needs 15-year charters to order mega box ships
INDEPENDENT charter owner of containerships, Seaspan, has posted a 10.4 per cent year-on-year rise in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2014 to US$189.4 million.
WORLD SHIPPING
01 March 2015 - 19:14
Seaspan warns it needs 15-year charters to order mega box ships
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