Navios Container Shipping Sector Pays Dividends

Monaco-based owner and operator of dry bulk and container vessels Navios Maritime Partners reported USD 74.9 million net income for the year ended December 31, 2014, almost USD 16 million more compared to USD 59 million net profit recorded in 2013.

Navios attributed the increase to a USD 46.6 million increase in EBITDA and a USD 0.2 million increase in interest income, partially offset by an USD 11.9 million increase in interest expense and finance cost, net, an USD 18.3 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense and a USD 0.8 million increase in direct vessel expenses.

Time charter and voyage revenues in 2014 increased by USD 29.2 million or 14.7% to USD 227.4 million, as compared to USD 198.2 million for the same period in 2013.

The increase was mainly attributable to the delivery of: the Navios Joy, the Navios Harmony and the five container vessels in the second half of 2013; and the Navios La Paix, the Navios Sun, the YM Utmost and the YM Unity in 2014.

As a result of the vessel acquisitions, available days of the fleet increased to 10,927 days for the year ended December 31, 2014, as compared to 7,952 days for the year ended December 31, 2013. The above increase in time charter and voyage revenues was partially mitigated by the decrease in TCE to USD 20,306 per day in 2014, from USD 24,284 per day for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Navios Partners has entered into medium to long-term time charter-out agreements for its vessels with a remaining average term of 3.4 years. Navios has currently contracted out 80.1% of its available days for 2015, 47.7% for 2016 and 45.2% for 2017, expecting to generate revenues of approximately USD 220.2 million, USD 171.5 million and USD 166.8 million, respectively. The average expected daily charter-out rate for the fleet is USD 23,858, USD 31,702 and USD 32,633 for 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Partners, said: “We have repositioned Navios Partners as a container focused MLP since entering the container market in December 2013. Since then, we have acquired eight container vessels generating about USD 1 billion in revenue, representing 68% of our expected contracted revenue and 44% of our expected 2015 EBITDA. Today, our container fleet represents about 41% of Navios Partners’ total tangible assets. The average charter length of our containers is about 8 years while the average charter duration of our entire fleet is about 3.4 years.”