Earlier this month, Rederiaktiebolaget Eckerö (“Eckerö”) successfully placed its first bond, issuing EUR 62 million of five-year senior secured bonds in the Norwegian market. The notes bear interest at three-month EURIBOR + 7.00% in line with initial price talk.

Last week, Capital Product Partners L.P. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, CPLP Shipping Holdings PLC, successfully priced its offering of €150 million of five-year unsecured bonds in Greece. Guaranteed by CPLP, the Bonds will have a coupon of 2.65%, which was at the tight end of initial price talk, due to strong demand.

The supply chain problems are well known. There is no limit to the litany of reasons behind it. These include consumer online purchasing, a lack of truck drivers, a lack of space to store containers, a shortage of containers in China, and so on.

Private equity apparently sees greater opportunity in energy infrastructure than the public markets or at least is willing to pay for it. Just recently, GasLog Ltd. closed its take private transaction with the private equity firm, BlackRock Global Energy and Power Infrastructure Team.

On Tuesday, International Seaways, Inc. announced that it has entered into attractively structured sale-leaseback agreements with Ocean Yield ASA for the refinancing of six VLCCs in the aggregate amount of $375 million. VesselsValue appraises the vessels for $387.8 million implying very high gearing, which, in turn, reflects the vessels’ average age of 5.5 years, and the imputed value of the Tankers International Pool.

On October 1, 2021, Eagle Bulk Ultraco LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (“Eagle”), entered into a new five-year senior secured credit facility in the amount of $400.0 million, which consists of a $300 million term loan and a revolving credit facility of $100.0 million. Subject to certain conditions, Eagle Ultraco may request an increase of up to $60.0 million in the aggregate principal amount of the Term Facility Loan.

Ships are assets on many levels. First and foremost, they produce revenue through trading, but as a derivative of an improving market or a strategy of low gearing, they can also be a source of incremental liquidity. A CFO never has enough cards to play.

While container shipping has grabbed all the headlines, the dry bulk market continues to steadily outperform in the background. Being out of the spotlight, the sector affords careful investors distinct profitable opportunities as evidenced in Pareto Securities Project Financing’s latest project offering, Parbulkers II AS (“Parbulkers”).

For those investors who are less than enamored with Diana Shipping’s conservative chartering strategy of fixing its vessels on medium- and/or long-term charters, the company has created an alternative by effecting the spin-off of three older dry bulk vessels into a new subsidiary, OceanPal Inc., which will deploy those vessels instead in the spot charter market to exploit today’s strong market.

Seemingly, more important than ever, the common mantra of all CFOs these days is the need to diversify one’s funding sources. This was the impetus behind Dampskibsselskabet NORDEN A/S’ (“NORDEN”) issuance of an initial $100 million of senior unsecured bonds to institutional investors back in June with the ability to increase the amount to $150 million.

Last week, Golar LNG Limited (“GLNG”) successfully placed $300 million of its senior unsecured bonds in the Nordic bond market on the back of strong interest from yield hungry investors. Maturing in October 2025, the bonds will carry a coupon of 7.00 percent.

At the recent Marine Money Climate Week conference held during the UN global gathering in NYC, Mr. Cummins, President of BSMC, shared a stage with Guy Platton head of the International Chamber of shipping and Johannah Christensen, CEO of the Global Maritime Forum (GMF) in a show of collaborative ambition for the industry’s decarbonization efforts.