Apr.26--Costamare’s net income edged up to $24.73 million in the first quarter from $24.53 million a year ago, as the Greek shipowner profited from the sale of a vessel for scrap and kept all its charter ships employed.

The NYSE-listed company’s revenue dipped to $91.5 million from $100 million in the first quarter of 2012 reflecting lower charter income from some ships.

The company said it avoided idling any vessels during the quarter and recently agreed to charter a 1996-built 1,504-TEU ship to Chinese carrier Cosco for about a year at a competitive daily rate of $7,350.

“In a challenging market we have minimized our re-chartering risk,” Chief Financial Officer Gregory Zikos said. Vessels coming off hire in 2013 and 2014 account for only four percent and three percent of contracted revenues for the two years.

The company booked a profit of about $4 million from the $7.9 million sale of a 1984-built 3,584-TEU vessel for demolition.

“A containership market under pressure provides us with the opportunity to expand opportunistically in a low rate and asset values environment,” Zikos said.

Costamare took delivery during the quarter of the first two of 10 9,000-TEU ships on order; they began 10-year charters to Mediterranean Shipping Co. The 10 vessels will contribute more than $1.3 billion of contracted revenues during the lifetime of their charters.

Costamare has a fleet of 56 container vessels, including the eight ships to be delivered over the next 10 months, with an aggregate capacity of 328,000 TEUs.

(Source:JOC)