An increasing number of top shipowners from Greece and elsewhere are contributing big bulkers to Costamare’s trading platform.
Set up in November last year, Costamare Bulkers Inc (CBI) had 23 chartered-in vessels in early February. Newcastlemaxes and capesizes from John Fredriksen’s Golden Ocean, Tor Olav Troim-backed 2020 Bulkers, Berge Bulk and Bocimar featured prominently in its early fleet.
An updated fleet list of 51 vessels released by Costamare on Monday revealed that players such as Bocimar and Fredriksen put more ships onto the platform and several others joined in as well.
The list confirms earlier TradeWinds reports about CBI signing a big-ticket chartering deal for six newcastlemaxes from RWE Supply & Trading for long-term periods.
Other new companies putting ships into the venture include the Navios Group of Angeliki Frangou, Maria Angelicoussis firm Maran Dry Management, Lomar Shipping and Star Bulk Carriers.
Five of the eight ships these players have contributed are: Star Bulk’s 206,800-dwt Katie K (built 2019); the 179,200-dwt Navios Altamira (built 2011) and 180,700-dwt Navios Lumen (built 2009); and 179,700-dwt Anangel Voyager and 180,400-dwt Maran Harmony (both built 2010).
Some firms have decided to put their freshly acquired capesizes with CBI.
The venture’s fleet list includes the 179,800-dwt Thalassini Astrid (renamed Tomini K2, built 2014) — the first capesize ever bought by Tomini Shipping earlier this year, for $34m.
The same goes for Thanassis Laskaridis company Laskaridis Maritime, which is entrusting to CBI the 180,000-dwt Athens (ex-Aquasalwador, built 2012), as well as a kamsarmax newbuilding, the 82,000-dwt Minimata (built 2023).
The CBI fleet list has come to include kamsarmaxes from Turkey’s Yasa Shipping, Panagiotidis family firm Pavimar, China’s Ocean Longevity and Italy’s Rimorchiatori Riuniti.
Thirty-nine of CBI’s 51 bulkers have already been delivered. Most of them are or will be employed on index-linked charter deals to minimise commercial risks from their management.
Just another way to invest
Costamare owns separately from CBI a fleet of about 70 container ships and more than 40 smaller bulkers.
Ventures such as CBI and Neptune Maritime Leasing — a leasing venture in which Costamare acquired a majority stake earlier this year — are an alternative way to invest some of the walls of cash the firm earned during the coronavirus boxship boom.
Costamare has pledged to invest up to $200m in each of CBI and Neptune Maritime Leasing and reiterated on Monday that it plans to grow CBI even further.
“Container ships now are too expensive still … the same applies to dry bulk secondhand ships … So Costamare Bulkers Inc and Neptune Maritime Leasing are alternative methods to deploy capital, which we think will be on an accretive basis,” chief financial officer Gregory Zikos told analysts in a conference call on Monday.
Such investments, however, do not mean the company rules out plans for possible future share buybacks and dividend increases, Zikos added.
Costamare set up CBI largely with former staff of Oldendorff Carriers.
Operating out of Athens and Monaco, as well as through agencies in Copenhagen, Hamburg and Singapore, it charters vessels in or out, enters into contracts of affreightment and forward freight agreements and may also use hedging tools.
Costamare owns 92.5% of the venture.
The trading platform contributed $19m to Costamare revenue between January and March, which was its first full quarter of operations.
That was less than one-tenth of Costamare’s total revenue of $248.8m in the quarter, most of which was contributed by its container ships ($195.7m) and its owned bulkers ($34.1m).
CBI had a small negative impact on Costamare’s overall profitability, contributing a loss of $3.9m to the company’s overall $148.9m net income in the quarter.
