By George Georgiou

 

The capitalization of Greek shipping companies listed on the US stock market has skyrocketed over the last months and the 1 billion "club" continues to grow, while soon we may have the first company with a value of 3 billion dollars.

 

The analysis conducted by "Naftemporiki" on the 26 listed Greek interests showed that their share prices closed with significant gains in the first months of 2024.

 

More specifically, the total capitalization of the 26 Greek shipping companies listed on the US stock exchange amounted to 15.28 billion dollars on May 10, 2024 compared to 9.6 billion dollars in mid-June 2023, up almost 60% on an annual basis.

 

It is noted that last year's study included GasLog Partners and Navios Maritime Holdings, which, however, after consolidation deals in the wider shipping groups, were delisted from the US stock market. They have since been replaced by C3is Inc. and Okeanis Eco Tankers.

 

This impressive "jump" in the capitalization of the Greeks shipowners is also due to the increase in companies that exceeded the 1 billion threshold. Specifically, from mid-2023 until today, the number has doubled, from three to six, while Star Bulk Carriers a "breath" away from 3 billion dollars. The value of the latter's shares was valued at 2.91 billion on May 10. Next on the list is Dorian LPG, with a capitalization of 1.75 billion dollars, and the group is closed with Danaos Corporation, with a capitalization of 1.61 billion dollars.

 

Costamare, with a share value of 1.59 billion and Navios Maritime Partners, with 1.42 billion, follow. The latest entry is Okeanis Eco Tankers, whose shares began trading on the board at the end of 2023 and are currently valued at 1.05 billion dollars.

 

These six companies operate in different shipping industries, from tankers and bulkers to containerships and LPG carriers. Half of them (Navios, Costamare, Danaos) control diversified fleets and the other half are purely single market 'players'.

 

The profile of the Greek "fleet" in New York

 

1. C3is Inc. has a fleet of four vessels, three bulkers and one tanker, totaling 213,464 dwt.

 

2. Capital Product Partners controls 22 ships, of which nine LNG carriers and 13 containerships, with a capacity of over 2.1 million dwt.

 

3. Castor Maritime manages 13 ships, 11 bulk carriers and two containerships, with a total capacity of 0.9 million dwt.

 

4. Costamare controls 107 ships, of which 68 containerships, with a total capacity of 513,000 TEUs and 39 bulkers, with a capacity of 2.9 million dwt.

 

5. Danaos Corp. manages 79 ships, of which 69 containerships, with a total capacity of 434,268 TEUs and 10 bulk carriers, with a capacity of 1.76 million dwt. At the same time, a shipbuilding program is "running" for 12 ships, with a capacity of 92,771 TEUs.

 

6. Diana Shipping has in its possession 38 active bulk carriers, with a total capacity of 4.4 million dwt. It has also ordered two kamsarmax bulkers.

 

7. Dorian LPG controls 25 modern VLGCs (Very Large Gas Carriers), with a capacity of over 1.76 million cubic meters.

 

8. Dynagas LNG Partners manages six LNG carriers, with a total capacity of approximately 914,000 cubic meters.

 

9. EuroDry controls 13 bulk carriers, with a total capacity of 918,502 dwt.

 

10. Euroseas has in its possession 22 containerships, with a total capacity of 66,261 TEUs, while it is awaiting the delivery of four more newbuilds, with a capacity of 9,200 TEUs.

 

11. Global Ship Lease controls 68 containerships, with a total capacity of 375,406 TEUs.

 

12. Globus Maritime manages a fleet of seven bulk carriers, with a capacity of 517,745 dwt, at the same time implementing a shipbuilding program for four more vessels of this type.

 

13. Imperial Petroleum controls a total of 11 ships, of which nine tankers and two bulk carriers, with a total capacity of 792,000 dwt.

 

14. Navios Maritime Partners owns 176 ships (77 bulk carriers, 52 tankers and 47 containerships), with a capacity of 15.8 million dwt and 231,964 TEUs, implementing a shipbuilding program for 26 ships (16 tankers and 10 containerships).

 

15. OceanPal manages a fleet of four bulk carriers, with a capacity of 395,356 dwt.

 

16. Okeanis Eco Tankers controls a fleet of 14 tankers, with a total capacity of 3.5 million dwt.

 

17. Performance Shipping controls a total of seven tankers, with a capacity of approximately 740,00 dwt, and also has an order book of four tankers.

 

18. Pyxis Tankers manages four vessels, of which three tankers and one bulk carrier, while it owns a majority stake in another dry bulk carrier. The fleet capacity reaches 294,125 dwt.

 

19. Safe Bulkers controls a fleet of 46 bulk carriers, with a total capacity of 4.6 million dwt, while "running" a shipbuilding program for eight more vessels.

 

20. Seanergy Maritime Holdings operates 17 bulk carriers, with a total capacity of over 3 million dwt, and is expected to take delivery of two more vessels.

 

21. Star Bulk Carriers operates 163 bulk carriers, with a capacity of 15.6 million dwt, with eight more vessels on order.

 

22. StealthGas owns 33 LPG carriers, including six joint venture vessels, with a capacity of 389,420 cubic meters.

 

23. Top Ships controls a fleet of eight tankers, with a capacity of 1.43 million dwt, while it owns a 50% stake in two more tankers.

 

24. Toro Corp. manages a fleet of five vessels, of which four LPG carriers, with a total capacity of 20,000 cubic meters and one tanker, with a capacity of 36,718 dwt.

 

25. Tsakos Energy Navigation controls 74 ships - including eight newbuild tankers - crude tankers, product tankers and LNG carriers, with a total capacity of 9.1 million dwt.

 

26. United Maritime Corporation operates a fleet of eight bulk carriers, with a capacity of 922,054 dwt, and will take delivery of one more vessel, which will increase capacity to over 1 million dwt.

 

Greek shipowners focus on modern ultramaxes

 

 

Modern ultramaxes are currently the most appealing type of bulk carrier, based on the latest deals, in which the Greek shipowners dominate.

 

According to data from domestic shipping companies, a total of 113 ultramaxes/supramaxes have changed hands on the secondary market so far in 2024 compared to a total of 229 in 2023.

 

Ultramaxes are by far the second most popular type of bulker in sales this year followed by handysize bulkers, with a total of 71 deals.

 

This trend was also observed in the last week. Specifically, the shipping brokerage George Moundreas & Company S.A. registered between May 4-10 a total of 11 bulk carrier purchase and sale agreements. Almost half of them, five in total, involved supramaxes/ultramaxes.

 

During the specific period, freight brokerage Golden Destiny recorded a total of seven truck deals, three of which were in the supramaxes/ultramaxes category.

Finally, British shipping broker Hartland Shipping Services reported four completed deals, all for supramax/ultramax vessels.

 

Recent deals

 

In one of the biggest sales deals of the last week, the buyer of the two ultramaxes recently sold en bloc (together) by Target Marine, for a total of 54 million dollars, became known.

 

These are Syros Island (built 2015) and Andros Island (built 2016). In this way, maritime data platforms already detect in the fleet of Tri Bulk Shipping, based in Vouliagmeni, the first with the name Astro Vega and soon the second one is expected to follow. Tri Bulk has been particularly active in recent years in the secondary market of bulk carriers.

 

According to “Naftemporiki” estimates, from the second half of 2023 to date, the shipping company has spent more than 110 million on four cargo ships, including the last two of Target Marine.

 

In another interesting deal, charter house WeberSeas reported that a modern Japanese-built ultramax (2017) sold for close to 33 million dollars.