Seaspan's CEO Discusses Q3 2011 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

As we continue to take delivery of our newbuilding fleet, we intend on continuing to sustainably increase our dividends over time while maintaining our flexibility for future growth.

Fourth, we took additional steps to enhance our capital structure and a financial flexibility during the third quarter by entering into our $150 million non-recourse loan facility relating to one of our 13100 TEU newbuilding vessels and 12-year time charted to COSCON. The vessel is under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries and was previously financed with up to $75 million under one of our revolving credit facilities.

Fifth and finally, I’m pleased to announce that we have entered into agreements with MSC bareboat charters two of our four 4800 TEU vessels for five years and that we are finalizing similar bareboat charter agreements with MSC for the remaining two 4800 TEU vessels. This transaction is aligned with our strategy of generating stable cash flow and maintaining a modern fleet with an efficient cost structure.

For this bareboat charters, we’re locking in an income stream for the next five years. We’re effectively removing our operating exposure to our four oldest vessels enabling us to redeploy valuable operational resources towards our remaining modern fleet with an average age of about four years. Sai will review the financial implications of this transaction later on in this call.

I would now like to turn the call to Sai to discuss our quarterly financial results. Sai please.

Sai Chu

Thanks Gerry. Please turn to slide four for a summary of our three and nine-month results for the periods ended September 30, 2011, compared to the same periods in 2010. We began 2011 with 55 vessels in operation and accepted delivery of 10 vessels as of September 30, 2011, bringing our fleet to a total of 65 vessels in operation at quarter end.

Revenue increased substantially due to the increased number of operating days and higher time charter rates attributed to the delivery of our larger newbuild vessel.

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