[080318.EN.SEA] GSL Remains Bullish About Recovery Despite Another Year In The Red

LONDON-BASED containership owner Global Ship Lease (GSL) has reported a net loss of US$99.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2017, which kept the company's operations in the red for another year.

With the exception of two 8,063 TEU ships chartered to OOCL, French carrier CMA CGM is GSL's only client and is also a 45 per cent shareholder of the firm, which does not operate ships.

GSL's fleet of 18 container vessels, ranging from 2,000-11,000 TEU, generated revenue of $159 million last year, compared with $166.5 million the year before. The company posted a loss of $77.3 million following a negative result of $68 million in 2016.

However, the result included vessel value impairments of $87.6 million and a $14.4 million charge associated with refinancing, The Loadstar of UK reported.

CEO Ian Webber said: "In 2017, we continued to benefit from our attractive long-term charters and strong relationships with top-tier liner companies. By maintaining full time charter employment for our fleet and extremely high utilisation levels in line with our historical averages, we ensured that we would continue to generate consistent cashflows to support our deleveraging and growth efforts."

Mr Webber said the container industry had experienced a "significant recovery" over the past year, which was resulting in "upward pressure on both spot charter rates and asset values".

Nevertheless, despite the improving situation, GSL is having to contend with the significant decline in charter rates and, as a consequence, asset values, which has impacted the market over the past few years.

However, Mr Webber said GSL was now in "an excellent position to pursue a range of value creation opportunities".

According to vesselsvalue.com, the current value of GSL's fleet is around $203 million, $169 million as scrap.

Source : HKSG.