US-listed Costamare posted on Wednesday a record profit for the second quarter and first half of this year, while unveiling further bulker acquisitions. Boosted by a red-hot containership freight market that helped the company clinch multi-year charter rates at very high levels, Costamare announced nine fresh bulker acquisitions that bring the total tally of its expansion in this sector to 37 ships. Costamare has primarily invested in handysizes — a bulker type that has performed particularly well in recent months.

Sixteen of the 37 bulkers the company bought fall into that category, with the rest consisting of 13 supramaxes, four kamsarmaxes, two panamaxes and two ultramaxes. “The dry bulk acquisitions result from our decision to invest in this liquid sector where supply is limited by a low orderbook and demand is being driven by increased infrastructure spending and commodity consumption,” Costamare chief financial officer Gregory Zikos said in the company’s earnings statement.

Costamare has already taken delivery of 14 of the bulkers it acquired. Half of these ships were put on medium-term charters expiring up to January. The shipowner expects to take delivery of the remaining 23 bulkers by the end of 2021. Costamare has already made chartering arrangements for four of them, all handysizes – three of which at index-linked charter rates with a duration between 5.5 and 15.5 months. Costamare, however, expects its bulkers, in general, to operate in the spot market.

The company did not reveal how much it spent precisely on its bulker expansion drive, which it unveiled on 14 June. In a conference call held after the earnings on Wednesday, Zikos told analysts that the investment was “definitely north of half a billion [dollars in} debt and equity”. The only precise figure Costamare disclosed is that it clinched $389m in financing agreements to fund its bulker acquisitions. This amount includes two “hunting license” bank facilities of $245m in total. Mustering the funds for its bulker expansion should not have been too difficult for the company amid record profitability.

Costamare reported net income available to common shareholders of $82.8m for the second quarter. That compares to a net loss of $83.9m for the same period in the previous year, which included a $78.7m accounting loss on four vessels held for sale and an impairment deficit of $28.5m.

For the first half, profit reached $143.3m from a loss of $58.3m in the corresponding period of 2020. As its bulkers have hardly entered its fleet yet, Costamare’s profit is almost entirely due to its 79 containerships on the water, which continued to fetch stellar freight rates in a booming box market.

The company announced clinching 10 new or extended containership charters in the second quarter. The most eye-catching of these is a forward fixture of the 9,469-teu Cosco Guangzhou and Cosco Ningbo (both built 2006) for three years at $72,700 per day. “Strong consumer demand, low inventory levels and supply chain constraints have all contributed to record charter rates and longer charter durations,” Zikos said.