Seanergy says capesize acquisition opportunities have grown scarcer

SEANERGY Maritime has acknowledged that current market conditions are making it difficult to acquire suitable new additions for its fleet of capesize bulk carriers.

The Greece-based owner of 21 capesizes has almost doubled its fleet since 2020, but secondhand opportunities have grown scarcer, according to chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis.

“The fleet is ageing and there are limited sell and purchase opportunities right now in the secondhand market,” he said.

Nasdaq-listed Seanergy was “doing our best to identify and lock in new tonnage”, he told a second-quarter earnings call.

But the availability of quality vessels had “decreased a lot” and the market had also become “way more expensive”.

In addition, newbuildings were “difficult” unless part of a package that would facilitate the financing and commercial trading of the vessel.

Seanergy said that it expects a stronger second half of 2025 for the capesize market and it also takes a positive view of the longer term.

The orderbook for new bulkers in this category was “historically low” at about 9% of the existing fleet and just 20 new orders had been placed so far this year.

Combined with encouraging demand trends, the owner believed that capesize charter rates were likely to remain at “very profitable” levels for the next few years.

Seanergy returned to profitability in the second quarter of this year, after a loss in the “turbulent” first quarter.

However, net income of $2.9m came in some way below the $14.1m profit it posted in the second quarter last year.

Second-quarter revenues also fell to $37.5m, a year-on-year reduction of 13%.

The company averaged time charter rates of $19,807 per vessel per day in the latest quarter, which beat the Baltic capesize index by 6%, Tsantanis said.

However, this was a long way from the fleet’s daily average hire of $26,636 for the same quarter in 2024.

For the second half of the year, seven of the company’s vessels have locked in rates averaging $22,400 per day and Tsantanis said that the third-quarter charter equivalent is projected to rise to about $23,000.

About 40% of the cargo carried by the fleet is iron ore, with coal accounting for another 40% and bauxite contributing the other 20%.

However, the mix of cargoes fluctuates from quarter to quarter, he said.

The owner has declared a cash dividend of $0.05 per share, its 15th consecutive quarterly pay-out.