London-listed Taylor Maritime Investments (TMI) has switched its focus to longer-term bulker charters in stronger markets. The handysize specialist said five vessels have been fixed on deals lasting between 11 and 13 months. These will provide average annualized unlevered cash yields more than 30%, based on fair market values. The fleet had an average yield of above 24% as of 31 March.

Day rates were not revealed. Average net charter rates for the 31 TMI bulkers — all but one of which are handysizes — had increased to $19,200 per day by the middle of April, versus $18,600 at the end of March 2022. Six TMI vessels were fixed on new deals during January. One found work for a year, and the others were booked for less than six months each.

Chief executive Edward Buttery said on Monday that during the Chinese New Year period, a time of typical seasonal weakness, TMI deliberately fixed a portion of the fleet on short-term charters in anticipation of a strengthening market in the lead-up to the summer. “This approach has now allowed us the flexibility to capture longer-term charters for five vessels at attractive yields for an average duration of approximately one year each to high-quality charterers and is part of our strategy to secure more cover on an increasing proportion of our fleet this summer and beyond,” he added.

Buttery explained this is consistent with the overall strategy of having the most commercially advantageous mix of charter durations to balance revenue optimization and earnings visibility. TMI has said it expects two to three further years of further strength in its market.

Earlier in May, the owner returned more cash to shareholders in the form of a one-off dividend in healthy markets. The special pay-out was at 3.22 US cents per share, the London-listed company said. This equated to $10.6m, based on 330m outstanding shares. The move took total dividends declared since the initial public offering last May to 8.47 cents, representing a dividend yield on the initial issue price of 10%.