Bulker owner Belships exited 2021 with another record-high quarterly profit and is planning to share the wealth with its shareholders in an extraordinary dividend this year. The Oslo-listed company recorded net profit of $59.2m for the fourth quarter, equivalent to earnings per share of $0.23, up from a gain of $900,000 in the same period in 2020. The supramax and ultramax owner said the positive result was “mainly caused by the improved freight market and Belships’ increased fleet”.

The results cap off what has been a remarkable year for Belships. Its full-year net profit for 2021 totaled $133.4, compared to a loss of $17.7m in 2020. Belships will pay out NOK 0.90 ($0.10) per share for the fourth quarter period, equivalent to about 53% of its adjusted net result. It paid out NOK 0.55 per share in the previous quarter. It said its extraordinary dividend will be declared together with its financial report for the first three months of 2022.

Belships’ expanded fleet, which now numbers 27 supramax and ultramax bulkers, meant it had 35% more active days compared with a year ago. Much of the net result was generated by Lighthouse, Belships’ in-house commercial platform that handles cargo trading. Lighthouse contributed $22.9m of Belships’ fourth quarter Ebitda of $70.4m. Net freight revenue for Belships’ owned vessels was $225.8m during the fourth quarter, compared with $58.2m a year ago.

Its owned ships earned average time-charter equivalent rates of $28,965 per day during the period, a big increase on the $10,502 per day during the final quarter in 2020. This quarter, Belships has around 88% of its available vessel days booked at about $23,900 per day net. For the second quarter of 2022, the shipowner said it has covered about 62% of vessel days at about $22,400 net per day.

The shipowner has fixed several its ships on period deals in recent months. “Recently, the sentiment in the market significantly improved, and continued strong bulk markets is expected in the near term. Freight Forward Agreements (FFAs) for supramax currently indicate a market average of about $26,000 for the remaining part of the year,” the company said in its quarterly report. “As we mentioned in previous reports, the supply side as observed from the number of deliveries and the publicly quoted orderbook for our segment is historically low. On the back of stable demand, we remain optimistic in terms of market prospects.”

Belships has completed sale-and-leaseback deals for three ultramaxes over the past few months, including a newbuilding. This month, Belships also secured a new $116m loan from DNB Bank and Sparebank 1 SR-Bank that will be used to repay off its existing credit facility.