Marine Link
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Euroseas Expands Fleet

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

October 5, 2007

Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA), an owner and operator of drybulk carriers, container ship and multipurpose vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for drybulk and containerized cargoes, signed a Memorandum of Agreement to purchase the M/V Trust Jakarta, a Panamax drybulk vessel of 64,873 dwt built in 1984 in Japan. The M/V Trust Jakarta was acquired for approximately $28.6 million and comes with a period charter attached until July 2008 at a rate of $35,500 per day. The vessel will be delivered to the Company between October 15 and November 15, 2007 at the sellers option and will be renamed M/V Ioanna P. Following the delivery of the M/V Ioanna P., and the previously acquired M/V Tiger Bridge, approximately 79% of Euroseas total fleet days in the fourth quarter of 2007 and approximately 45% in 2008 will be fixed under period charters, already concluded spot charters, or, otherwise protected from market fluctuations. Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented: "We are pleased to announce that we have agreed to acquire the M/V Ioanna P, our 15th vessel. This will be the seventh vessel to be purchased this year and the fourth since our follow-on equity offering in June 2007. We have essentially doubled our fleet in less than a year through accretive acquisitions. All of our investments have been carefully selected amongst a multitude of available projects within the dry shipping sector so as to achieve attractive returns for our shareholders. In that respect, the acquisition of M/V Ioanna P follows on the successful precedent of our previous drybulk acquisition of M/V Gregos in February 2007, also a 1984-built vessel, which has provided us with superior returns to-date. We expect that the acquisition of M/V Ioanna P will be accretive to our earnings and cash flow. Based on current charter rates, we expect to recoup this capital investment in less than three years, thus bearing minimal residual value risk as compared to investment in younger vessels. While we continue to focus on acquisitions of middle age tonnage on the containership front, we firmly believe that in the present high asset value drybulk market, well maintained vessels built in the mid-80s provide the best returns.

Subscribe for
Maritime Reporter E-News

Maritime Reporter E-News is the maritime industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email five times per week