Our Business Strategy

Our business strategy is focused on providing consistent shareholder returns by carefully timing and structuring acquisitions of drybulk vessels and by reliably, safely and competitively operating our vessels through Eurobulk and Eurobulk FE. We continuously evaluate purchase and sale opportunities, as well as long term employment opportunities for our vessels. Key elements of the above strategy are:

  • Renew and Expand our Fleet. We expect to grow our fleet in a disciplined manner through timely and selective acquisitions of quality vessels. We perform in-depth technical review and financial analysis of each potential acquisition and only purchase vessels as market opportunities present themselves. We focus on purchasing well-maintained secondhand vessels, newbuildings or newbuilding resales based on the evaluation of each investment option at the time it is made. In 2016 we took delivery of one newbuilding drybulk carrier. In January 2017, we took delivery of one secondhand and one newbuilding drybulk carrier. In addition, in March 2017, we signed an addendum to our newbuilding contract with Jiangsu Tianyuan Marine Import & Export Co., Ltd., and Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. to proceed with the construction of an 82,000 dwt bulk carrier which we took delivery of on May 7, 2018.

  • Maintain Balanced Employment. We intend to employ our fleet on either longer term time charters, i.e. charters with duration of more than a year, or shorter term time/spot charters. We seek longer term time charter employment to obtain adequate cash flow to cover as much as possible of our fleet's recurring costs, consisting of vessel operating expenses, management fees, general and administrative expenses, interest expense and drydocking costs for the upcoming 12-month period. We may also use forward freight agreements ("FFA" or "FFAs") - as a substitute for time charter employment - to partly provide coverage for our drybulk vessels in order to increase the predictability of our revenues. We look to deploy the remainder of our fleet on spot charters, shipping pools or contracts of affreightment depending on our view of the direction of the markets and other tactical or strategic considerations. When we expect charter rates to improve we try to increase the percentage of our fleet employed in shorter term contracts (allowing us to take advantage of higher rates in the future), while when we expect the market to weaken we try to increase the percentage of our fleet employed in longer term contracts (allowing us to take advantage of higher current rates). We believe this balanced employment strategy will provide us with more predictable operating cash flows and sufficient downside protection, while allowing us to participate in the potential upside of the spot market during periods of rising charter rates.

  • Operate a Fleet of Drybulk Vessels. We will primarily focus on the Handy to Kamsarmax ship segments of the drybulk market, which have, historically, been less volatile than the largest, Capesize, segment.

  • Optimize Use of Financial Leverage. We intend to use bank debt to partly fund our vessel acquisitions and increase financial returns for our shareholders. We actively assess the level of debt we incur in light of our ability to repay that debt based on the level of cash flow generated from our chartering strategy and efficient operating cost structure.