Euroseas, an owner and operator of container carrier vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for containerized cargoes, announced announced that it has agreed to acquire M/V Piraeus Trader, a 1,740 teu container feeder vessel built in 2006, for $25.5 million. The vessel, which is expected to be delivered to the Company within October 2021 and be renamed M/V Jonathan P, will be financed by own funds and a bank loan. Contemporaneously with the acquisition, the vessel will enter into a three-year time charter contract for about $26,700 per day net to the Company.
Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of EuroDry commented:
“We are pleased to announce the acquisition of M/V Piraeus Trader, a feeder containership, built in 2006, which is a sister vessel of two other ships in our fleet, expanding our footprint in the container feeder sector. We believe that this acquisition represents a transaction with limited downside risk given the three year charter contract we have entered with a first class charterer. This charter will contribute about $22 million of EBITDA during the period of the contract providing us with a significant return on our investment and reducing, by the end of the charter, the cost basis of the vessel below its current scrap value. Of course, if the market after the end of the charter in three years is anything but terrible, we are bound to have significant further upside.
“At the same time, the current strong demand for securing vessel capacity for the medium and longer term does not seem to be abating. We believe that such favorable market fundamentals may continue as incremental regulatory requirements coming in effect in 2023 will further restrict the effective supply of vessels even though, at some point, the logistical and operational inefficiencies attributable to the pandemic will start easing. Overall, we intend to continue expanding in a risk measured and accretive manner further establishing Euroseas as the main US publicly listed company focusing on feeder and intermediate container vessels. The EBITDA backlog of our currently contracted vessel capacity until the end of 2023 of about $115m representing approximately 50% of our total available days, together with the EBITDA we expect to achieve after chartering our remaining open days within the next few months should form a solid foundation for our share price to move upwards towards its NAV and, potentially, assist us in consolidating other vessels or fleets.”