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Back in November 2018, Atlas Corp. (then Seaspan Corporation) laid out its plans for the future of the company in its Investor Day presentation. An important part of the plan was to improve its credit profile.

Based upon its 2nd quarter earnings release, Star Bulk Carriers takes this admonition to heart. It was a very busy July for refinancing the company's debt and building liquidity as it refinanced loans and sale-leaseback transactions.

Perhaps we exaggerate in our choice of title, but Hafnia's proposed merger offer was at the very least a distraction for Ardmore Shipping Corporation's management team.

This month, Navig8 Chemical Tankers Inc. announced that it had entered into sale and leaseback agreements with SPDB Financial Leasing Co., Ltd for four of its six owned IMO2 37,000 DWT Interline coated tankers, built at Hyundai Mipo in 2015/2016. VesselsValue provides an average valuation of approximately $25.4 million or $101.5 million en bloc.

Could we possibly be more obvious in our conclusion? Even so, Dealogic's numbers were startling. Marine Finance volume for H1 2020 was a respectable $30.2 billion, the highest level recorded since 2015. However, it disguised the underlying trend.

As a banker friend said to me the other day: "The offshore energy (services) and land-based energy (E&P) world is a MESS." While the offshore business is not our beat, we thought recent transactions entered into by Hermitage Offshore Services Ltd. were notable, particularly with respect to timing.

Last week, Capital Product Partners L.P. reported its second quarter earnings. The actual results were lost in the "surprise" announcement of its board's decision to reduce its quarterly distribution approximately 71% from $0.35 to $0.10 per unit. Why some analysts deemed it a surprise, we are not quite sure why. The pandemic has roiled the world economy leaving volatility and uncertainty in its wake.

This month, Ardmore Shipping Corporation renewed for two years its $15 million traditional working capital revolving credit facility with ABN AMRO and upgraded it by converting it into its first sustainability-linked finance facility.

Last week, GasLog Ltd. and GasLog Partners LP announced the signing of three new loan agreements, The GasLog Ltd. $577M Facility, the GasLog Partners LP $260M Facility and the GasLog Partners LP $200M Facility, which substantially refinanced all of the Group's debt maturities due in 2021, strengthened the balance sheet and created additional liquidity for the group.

Paddy Rodgers is too young to be in a museum and too valuable to be sidelined during what might be one of the most challenging and difficult periods in shipping. We were wondering when someone would see the opportunity and seize it.

Despite the high costs associated with operating under the U.S. flag, including ship prices and crew costs among others, there are some benefits, including the Maritime Security Program and as illustrated below highly-favorable financing.

We cannot begrudge the Scorpio Group's opportunism and outside the box thinking. Although we are believers in the pure play, and decidedly prejudiced, we understand that an established business can provide fertile support and funding for new ventures as evidenced most recently by Seapsan's merger into Atlas Corporation.

A raging pandemic and an ensuing economic crisis have not diverted Seaspan Corporation from its growth ambitions.

When it comes to understanding the benefits of share buybacks, we remain skeptical. We've heard the justification ad nauseum. With a reduced share count, EPS rises, notwithstanding changes in earnings, and the share price follows. Of course, it's never quite that simple.

Last week, Hafnia Limited, a subsidiary of the BW Group, made an unsolicited proposal to combine with Ardmore Shipping Corporation in an all-stock transaction. After a thorough review with legal counsel and financial advisors, Ardmore dismissed the offer as having no merit, arguing it seriously undervalued the company.

Surely these are difficult times. A pandemic and the resulting economic collapse have created unprecedented uncertainty generally and specifically in the bank and credit markets. Unfortunately, the clock does not stop ticking and GasLog and GasLog Partners were faced with substantial loan maturities in Q2 and Q3 2021, requiring a refinancing on a large scale.

Just as it is essential to have access to as many sources of capital that are available, it is just as crucial to utilize alchemy to magically turn liabilities into assets or less onerous liabilities in order to create needed liquidity and strengthen the balance sheet.

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. announced this week that it had successfully closed the previously announced refinancing of a credit facility secured by two of its Capesize bulk carriers, M/V Geniuship and M/V Gloriuship, with a new credit facility secured by the same vessels.

Need equity. No problem. Maxim Group has become the dominant source of equity capital for the small cap shipping companies. Like the military, their motto is "no one left behind" and they have provided solutions to large numbers of these companies, often on multiple occasions.

Castor Maritime Inc. has never appeared on our radar. It is a small company which operates three Panamax bulk carriers, with an average age of 17 years, employed on medium-term charters.Fortunately, however, the company is well-known to Maxim Group, which used its magic to raise $38.0 million for the company in two equity transactions over the last month.