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Cavalier Shipping insights on the current shipping finance market and recent events in the shipping space.
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Shipping’s Illiquidity Premium
Is a 2% premium enough for investors to restrict their ability to quickly exit their bets in order to take profit (or minimize losses)?
The Jones Act Parallel Market
One man’s trash is another man’s … Jones Act-qualified LNG carrier?
Shipping Market Timing is Everything
When buying low and selling high account for the majority of returns in an investment, market timing is everything.
Re-post: ‘Not all equal’: Why Aristides Pittas’ latest spin-off could actually work for investors
Earlier this week, I sat down with Joe Brady of TradeWinds to discuss the recent Euroseas Ltd. spinoff and our thoughts at Cavalier Shipping.
Contextualizing Shipping Investment Returns
What is the average yearly return on a shipping investment? A decade after I was first asked this question, I’ve decided to do the math myself.
Euroseas/EuroDry 2018 Spin-off: Repeatable?
A basic corporate valuation principle: the day after a company pays a dividend, the valuation of the company will decrease by the amount of the dividend (whether paid in cash or stock).
Yet, the conventional corporate finance rules don’t often apply to public shipping companies—take the 2018 Euroseas Ltd. spin off ofEuroDry Ltd., for example.
Greek Shipping Company Spin-Offs
Last week Euroseas Ltd. (ESEA), led by Aristides Pittas, announced its intention to spin off three vintage container ships into new company Euroholdings at the end of the month.
Funding VLCC Newbuilds: Bruton Ltd
Let’s say you ordered a pair of newbuilding dual-fuel Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). How would you fund their construction costs?
EnTrust / Belships M&A
2024’s final major shipping M&A announcement came just before the holidays, with affiliates of US-based fund manager EnTrust Global offering NOK 20.50 per share to acquire dry bulk owner and operator Belships ASA.
Port Operations + Automation
Port operations rarely make national headlines, but they do when president-elect Donald Trump (pro-union) and the world’s richest man Elon Musk (pro-automation) tweet about them, with opposing viewpoints on automation for shipping container loading/unloading.
Ship-Operating Business Model: Simple Yet Complex
The ship-operating business model is conceptually simple yet realistically hard to master, given the shipping industry’s volatile market. Some ship-operating companies have been in the business for quite some time—like DS NORDEN (est. 1871) and Western Bulk (est. 1982)—and then there are newcomers, like Costamare Bulkers Inc. “CBI” (est. 2022).
Shipping Representation in the Market
Contrast shipping’s 0% representation in the U.S. S&P 500 with its 12% representation in Norway’s Oslo Børs Benchmark Index––in the U.S., professionals often confuse "shipping" with logistics giants like FedEx or UPS; in Norway, professionals are immersed in the maritime world, with financial media regularly covering shipping and offshore markets.
Shipping Needs Investors
Shipping needs investors, but it seems investors do not need shipping.
Freight Forward Agreements + Liquidity
“Is the FFA market liquid enough?” It’s one of the most common questions about Forward Freight Agreements (FFAs). Like many things, the answer is: it depends.
Panamax vs. Supramax Earnings
Bigger ships with greater cargo capacity earn more than smaller ships with less capacity for carrying the same type of cargo, right? [Wrong.]
Panamax Earnings Vs. Values
A core tenet of valuation theory: the price of an asset is the net present value of the cash flows it generates…unless that asset is a ship.
The Ripple Effects of Earnings Volatility
The ripple effect of a sharp 45% drop in Capesize bulk carrier earnings this October is reverberating across the dry bulk universe.
ILA Strike Impact on Bahamas
The ILA strike’s impact on the U.S. economy has been extensively analyzed, while little attention has been paid to the strike’s ripple effects in the Caribbean—especially among nations heavily reliant on U.S. imports.
Shipping Investment Menu
The only barrier to entering today’s shipping market is money. With cash in hand, anyone could outsource services necessary for the safe operation and gainful employment of vessels to a number of specialist firms.