Seaspan’s 1st quarter profit up 65%

Seaspan’s 1st quarter profit up 65% New York-listed non-operating vessel owner Seaspan Corp. Monday reported first quarter net earnings of $14.7 million, a 65.1 percent increase from $8.9 million in the same period last year.
   Seaspan’s quarterly revenue was up 66.2 percent to $41.2 million, from $24.8 million a year ago.
   “The first quarter of 2007 was a very busy period for Seaspan,” said Gerry Wang, chief executive officer. “During the quarter, we took delivery of two vessels from our originally contracted fleet plus the 'COSCO Fuzhou,' the first new vessel ordered after our initial public offering. These acquisitions added the first 9,600-TEU and 3,500-TEU vessels to our fleet and brought the total number of Seaspan vessels in operation to 26.
   “We also arranged to build a total of six new vessels during the quarter with an estimated total delivered cost of $357.2 million. The addition of these vessels will increase our steady state EBITDA by approximately $40 million annually,” Wang said.