Euroseas Ltd. (Euroseas), an owner and operator of container carrier vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for containerized cargoes, announced on Monday (Sep21) its container vessel, C/V “Akinada Bridge”, with capacity of about 5,600 teu and built in 2001, has extended her time charter contract for a minimum duration of twelve months and maximum duration of thirteen months and an additional ten to twelve months in charterers option, at a daily rate of $17,250 and $20,000 respectively. The new rate will commence on October 30th 2020.
Furthermore, the charterers of C/V Synergy Oakland have declared their option to extend her charter for another 8-12 months at a rate that is determined by the Contex-4,250 Index less 10%. This rate will be applied starting October 23rd, 2020. As of 9/17/2020 the Contex-4,250 index stands at $15,369 and is subject to change every Tuesday and Thursday each week.
In addition to the above, the company signed an agreement to sell C/V Ninos, a 1,169 teu vessel, built in 1990 for scrap for approximately $2.36m gross. The vessel is expected to be delivered to the buyer prior to September end.
Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented: The strength of the intermediate size containership market has provided us with an opportunity to extend the charter of our C/V Akinada Bridge at a rate that will significantly contribute to our cash flow for the following year. Its contribution will complement the contributions of our 15 intermediate and feeder vessels, a segment on which we are focusing our growth strategy and where we aspire to leverage our position as the only US public platform of smaller containerships to consolidate other vessels or fleets.
We are cautiously optimistic about the prospects of the containership market across all segments as fleet growth over the next couple of years is expected to be low by recent trends. We are encouraged with the starting recovery of the charter market in late July 2020, but we still believe that the economic uncertainties remain high due to both the possibility of recurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, which affect the containership market.
Source: Euroseas