US listed international containership charter owner, Danaos Corporation, has posted a year on year 54.4 per cent net profit increase to US$6.2 million, drawn on operating revenues of $134.2 million, up 35.6 per cent.

The high performance was attributed to the addition of 10 vessels to the fleet, three of which were delivered in the first quarter. The three new units, with an aggregate carrying capacity of 34,730 TEU, have been all deployed on 12-year time charters.

"During this first quarter, we evidenced the seeds of the container market recovery. The liner companies were aligned in box rate hikes, which, until now, have been pretty successful. The charter market became more active with rates on some post-panamax vessels almost doubling and we evidenced a trickle-down effect on the large panamaxes. This development will put most liner companies back in the black for 2012 and will greatly reduce the counter-party risk that was troubling the market," said Danaos CEO John Coustas.

Dr. Coustas said the company continues to experience restraint in new orders with the notable exception of the much awaited Evergreen contract for 10 large post-panamaxes. "On the company front, we continue with the delivery of our fleet. As of today, we have taken delivery of all but two 13,100-TEU vessels, which are scheduled to be delivered until the end of June 2012," he said.

The company's charter coverage for the remainder of 2012 stands at 95 per cent in terms of operating revenues. "We still have three vessels in cold lay-up and we are evaluating their employment possibilities. We are getting very close to the successful completion of one of the most ambitious new building programmes within the next quarter to maximise the cash generating capacity of our company."

During the first quarter, Danaos had an average of 60 containerships compared to 51 containerships for the same period in 2011. "Our fleet utilisation was reduced to 94.5 per cent in the three months compared to 96.7 per cent in the same period of 2011, mainly due to the 246 days for which three of our vessels were off-charter and laid-up in the first quarter of 2012," Dr Coustas said.