24 May 2024 (Lloyd's List) - THERE may be a shorter supply of feeder containerships in a few years’ time, according to a leading owner in the sector.

Aristides Pittas, chairman and chief executive of Nasdaq-listed Euroseas, said that it was “not unlikely at all” that the feeder fleet might decline “in the coming years.”

For the feeder and intermediate boxship segments, Pittas said, the orderbook was “quite low” at about 8% of the global fleet, as opposed to a far higher overall orderbook for containerships, representing 22% of the total containership fleet.

“What is more, over 20% of the capacity of the feeder segment has an age profile older than 20 years,” Pittas said.

Longer routes resulting from liner companies avoiding the Red Sea and Suez due to the threat of Houthi attacks on shipping have increased demand and charter rates.

“While it is unclear for how long the tense situation in the Red Sea will continue, after which rates might normalise, the market so far this year has been able to absorb the high level of newbuilding deliveries from the high overall vessel orderbook,” he said.

Euroseas owns 26 feeder and intermediate containerships including five recently-delivered newbuildings and another four still to be delivered this year. It has taken advantage of improved rates to fix two of its newbuildings and extend charters for a number of other vessels.

First-quarter net income dipped to $20m from $28.8m in the year-ago quarter, Euroseas said.

Revenues increased by 11.1%, mainly as a result of fleet expansion and the introduction of the first high-earning newbuildings.

Average daily time charter equivalent rates per vessel were $27,806, compared to $29,231 in last year’s first quarter.

The Greece-based owner declared a dividend of $0.60 per share for the quarter, the same as the prior quarter.