Fleet Expansion Pushes Seaspan Corporation’s Earnings Up

Hong Kong-based containership owner and operator Seaspan Corporation has reported an almost 100 percent increase in first-half net earnings.

During the six months ended June 30, 2018, the company posted a net income of USD 135.7 million, compared to USD 68.3 million seen in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Revenue increased by 24.8 percent to USD 506.4 million in the first half of this year from USD 405.9 million recorded in H1 2017.

As explained, the increase in revenue was primarily due to the additional operating days from the vessel deliveries and acquisition of vessels from the Greater China Intermodal Investments (GCI) transaction. Earlier this year, Seaspan took over GCI, adding a collection of GCI’s boxships.

What is more, the company took delivery of four 10,000 TEU SAVER design boxships and each of them started a long-term charter with French shipping giant CMA CGM.

“In addition to the vessels acquired through GCI in the first quarter, we grew our operating fleet with the delivery of four 10,000 TEU containerships on long-term fixed-rate charters with CMA CGM, and achieved a utilization rate of 98.6% for the quarter. We remain optimistic about improving industry dynamics for containerships,” Bing Chen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, commented.

In July, Seaspan Corporation secured an additional USD 500 million equity investment commitment from affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, which brought its total investment in Seaspan to USD 1 billion.

“The additional investment by Fairfax announced in the second quarter increases its cumulative investment to USD 1 billion. The USD 500 million Fairfax equity investment is transformative to Seaspan as it increases our equity capital base and improves our access to capital,” Chen continued.

Seaspan’s operating fleet consists of more than 100 containerships with a total capacity of over 900,000 TEU, an average age of approximately 5 years and an average remaining lease period of approximately 5 years, on a TEU weighted basis.