GoodBulk has again boosted its bottom line during weak freight markets by selling off vessels and has distributed its largest ever payment to shareholders. The shipowner, which has its shares registered on Oslo’s over-the-counter market, recorded a net profit of $31.2m, which equated to $1.04 in earnings per share. This includes a $30.8m gain on the sale of a vessel delivered during the period. The quarterly result compares with a profit of $32m in the same period of last year, when earnings per share were $1.06.

GoodBulk, which is the public arm of C Transport Maritime (CTM), kept up its consistent quarterly dividends by paying $2.25 per share to its investors or around $66.6m in total for the third quarter. Chief executive John Michael Radziwill confirmed to TradeWinds that the “capital repatriation” payment is the largest quarterly distribution to shareholders in GoodBulk’s history. It also ranks among the largest quarterly dividends paid to shareholders by a listed bulker owner in at least the past two years. “The first and second round of investors have been completely repaid and have made 31% and 19% above their investment until now. We have given back close to $400m to our investors,” Radziwill told TradeWinds.

GoodBulk said this year so far it has seized opportunities and sold nine vessels in what it said was the strongest sale and purchase environment in eight years for capesizes and in 11 years for the panamax segment. “We are opportunistic and are not shy to sell assets if market conditions are right,” Radziwill said. The most recent vessel sale reported by brokers was in mid-September, when the 177,200-dwt Aquadonna (now Mikata, built 2005) was sold for an undisclosed price to a buyer since named by shipping databases as Singapore Shipping.

GoodBulk’s fleet of 14 capesizes each earned an average time-charter equivalent (TCE) rate of $15,657 per day during the third quarter and are currently 100% exposed to the spot market. Its vessels trade in the Capesize Chartering Ltd pool, which GoodBulk said has enabled its spot vessels to outperformed the Baltic Capesize Index by 24% in the third quarter and by 27% between January and September this year. The company said its fleet-wide leverage is below 30%, giving it an “ultra-competitive breakeven that is still below where paper is trading currently. Even in the current rate environment, GoodBulk is still generating cash.”

The company’s estimated normalized breakeven for 2022 is $10,816 per day after operating expenses, debt service and corporate general and administrative (G&A) expenses. Next year, it is estimated at $10,521 per day. “The orderbook for this segment is still around historical lows, representing about 6% of the current fleet at sea, which means that capesize fleet growth should remain limited in the next couple of years,” GoodBulk said in its third-quarter report. “Looking forward, the record-low orderbook in the dry bulk segment in combination with upcoming environmental regulations will be the biggest support to freight rates next year.”