Danaos Corp chief executive John Coustas espressed a bullish view on the containership charter market ahead of IMO 2020 as the company logged a fivefold jump in second-quarter profit.
Coustas said the boxship market will benefit from downtime related to scrubber retrofits ahead of new emissions regulations scheduled to come into force on 1 January, as well as reduced sailing speeds that will result from higher fuel prices.
"We anticipate that the implementation of IMO 2020 sulphur emissions regulations will result in a healthy charter market for the larger vessels through 2020," he said.
Also, he noted that escalations in trade tensions between the US and China, and the resulting uncertainty about trade flows, is keeping the boxship sector away from newbuilding orders.
"Collectively, these factors are expected to result in positive vessel supply side effects, which should support the strengthening of the charter market going forward," he said.
That builds on a charter market that is already strong for vessels over 5,500 teu in capacity, and which has been improving for panamaxes. Coustas said the market for smaller ships is stable.
On Tuesday, Danaos Corp reported that its earnings spiked, thanks in part to lower finance and operating costs.
The New York-listed boxship owner reported a $30.1m bottom-line profit, up from $5.84m in the same period of last year.
Adjusted net income came in at $34.3m versus $29.2m. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $2.24.
Revenue came in at $112m, slightly below the $114m logged in the same period of last year.
Coustas added that the company's recently completed refinancing puts it in a place to pursue growth opportunities.
