Euroseas announces new charter for its 2,788 TEU, 2004-built vessel
Euroseas Ltd., an owner and operator of container vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for containerized cargoes, announced a new charter of its container vessel M/V “EM Astoria”, according to the company's release.
M/V “EM Astoria”, a 2,788 TEU vessel built in 2004, entered into a new time charter contract for a period of between a minimum of thirty-six and a maximum of thirty-eight months at the option of the charterer, at a daily rate of $65,000 for the first twelve months, followed by a daily rate of $50,000 for the subsequent twelve months and followed by a daily rate of $20,000 for the remaining twelve to fourteen month period of the charter resulting in an average daily rate of about $45,000 for the duration of the charter. The new charter will commence in February 2022 after the completion of the present charter of the vessel.
The rate of this new charter is on average about 2.5 times higher than the present charter rate of the vessel while the charter payments are heavily front-loaded. The new charter secures the company with a minimum of $47m of contracted revenues and is expected to make a total EBITDA contribution in excess of $36m over the three years of the contract; more than $19m of the EBITDA contribution is expected during the first twelve months. This charter also increases the company's charter coverage to about 92% for 2022, more than 60% for 2023 and about 45% for 2024.
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 140 years. Euroseas trades on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker ESEA. Euroseas operates in the container shipping market. Euroseas' operations are managed by Eurobulk Ltd., an ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 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 currently has a fleet of 16 vessels comprising of 10 Feeder and 6 Intermediate containerships. Euroseas 16 containerships have a cargo capacity of 50,371 teu. Furthermore, after the delivery of two feeder containership newbuildings in the first half of 2023, Euroseas’ fleet will consist of 18 vessels with a total carrying capacity of 55,971 TEU.