Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA), an owner and operator of drybulk carriers and container vessels, commented on the container market in their press release this morning:
“The container market has been witnessing a significant correction during the last six months and has now entered into the traditionally low period which usually lasts until after the Chinese new year (end of January for 2012) when volumes start to pick up again. We had four vessels opening up during this challenging period. We are happy to have been able to extend the time charter on the Despina P and our decision to accelerate the scheduled dry docking of the Captain Costas reflects our belief that we can utilize currently idle time so that the ship will not need to lose time in the summer when we expect to see improvements in the market. We have also been able to fix employment for the containership Jonathan P for a minimum of 21 to a maximum of 70 days so the only vessel currently idle is the containership Marinos (ex YM Port Kelang). We continue to believe that provided the world economy grows at levels close to the 4% mark we should see a reversal of the fortunes of the container sector as of Q2 2012. We also think that the presently soft market may offer us opportunities to buy further vessels in both the container and drybulk sectors at depressed prices and we continue to scan the markets accordingly.”
Euroseas announced today that one of their subsidiaries has extended for approximately one year (until March 1, 2013) its time charter agreement, for the vessel Despina P, a 1932 teu, 1990 built Handysize containership, at a gross daily rate of $7,000. The new rate will commence on January 19, 2012.
Following the above mentioned charter, approximately 30% of Euroseas’ total container fleet days for 2012 and approximately 6% in 2013 are secured under period charters.
Furthermore, the Company has decided to accelerate the scheduled dry docking of the containership Captain Costas and perform it during this challenging period. The dry docking was originally scheduled for the summer of 2012.
About Euroseas Ltd.
Euroseas Ltd. was formed on May 5, 2005 under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands to consolidate the ship owning interests of the Pittas family of Athens, Greece, which has been in the shipping business over the past 136 years. Euroseas trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker ESEA since January 31, 2007.
Euroseas operates in the dry cargo, drybulk and container shipping markets. Euroseas’ operations are managed by Eurobulk Ltd., an ISO 9001:2000 certified affiliated ship management company, which is responsible for the day-to-day commercial and technical management and operations of the vessels. Euroseas employs its vessels on spot and period charters and through pool arrangements.
The Company has a fleet of 16 vessels, including 4 Panamax drybulk carriers and 1 Handymax drybulk carrier, 3 Intermediate containership, 5 Handysize containerships, 2 Feeder containerships and a multipurpose dry cargo vessel. Euroseas` 5 drybulk carriers have a total cargo capacity of 331,808 dwt, its 10 containerships have a cargo capacity of 17,787 teu and its multipurpose vessel has a cargo capacity of 22,568 dwt or 950 teu.
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