Second Gaza Relief Aid Ship Leaves Port
By Yiannis Kourtoglou (Reuters) – Ships carrying 332 tons of food for Gaza left Cyprus’s Larnaca port on Saturday in a convoy which will reach the besieged enclave early next week, authorities said. It...
Gregory Zikos, Costamare’s Chief Financial Officer commented on the new agreement:
“The structure of the agreement is designed to avoid any conflict between the public company and private investors; on the contrary, Costamare Inc. will be co-investing alongside York and will have the opportunity to earn incremental returns.”
“With this agreement we complement our own purchasing power with that of our partner, allowing us to pursue opportunities of larger scale and cater to the increased needs of our clients.”
Specifics of the agreement:
8 more newbuilds on their way
Costamare Inc. owns a fleet of 56 containerships with a total capacity of approximately 328,000 TEU, including eight newbuild containerships on order. Five 8,827 TEU containerships are being built for Costamare by Sungdong Shipbuilding, and three 9,403 TEU ships are being built at Jiangnan Changxing. All new vessels are scheduled for delivery by February 2014 and have long term charters signed with Evergreen and MSC respectively. So far this year, Costamare has accepted delivery of the 8,827 TEU newbuild containership vessels MSC Athens and MSC Athos, which were both built by Sungdong in South Korea. Both ships have since commenced 10-year charters with Mediterranean Shipping Company, S.A..
In Costamare’s 1st quarter earnings report, Zikos commented on the containership market which has come under an extraordinary amount of pressure in recent years. He notes that “a containership market under pressure provides us with the opportunity to expand opportunistically in a low rate and asset values environment.”
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