UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR
15d-16 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the month of June 2011.
Commission File Number 001-33060
DANAOS CORPORATION
(Translation of registrants name into English)
Danaos Corporation
c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd.
14 Akti Kondyli
185 45 Piraeus
Greece
Attention: Secretary
011 030 210 419 6480
(Address of principal executive office)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form 20-F x Form 40-F o
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): o
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): o
EXHIBIT INDEX
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99.1 |
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Proxy Statement for the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders |
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99.2 |
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Proxy Card for the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders |
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99.3 |
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2010 Annual Report and Accounts |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Date: June 22, 2011
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DANAOS CORPORATION | |
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By: |
/s/ Dr. John Coustas |
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Name: Dr. John Coustas | |
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Title: President and Chief Executive Officer | |
c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd.
14 Akti Kondyli
185 45 Piraeus
Greece
June 22, 2011
Dear Stockholder:
You are cordially invited to attend the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Danaos Corporation, which will be held on Friday, July 22, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. Greek local time at the offices of our manager, Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
The following Notice of 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and Proxy Statement describe the items to be considered by the stockholders at such meeting and contain certain information about us and our executive officers and directors.
Please sign and return the enclosed proxy card as soon as possible in the envelope provided so that your shares can be voted at the meeting in accordance with your instructions. Even if you plan to attend the meeting, we urge you to sign and promptly return the enclosed proxy card. You can revoke the proxy at any time prior to voting, or vote your shares personally if you attend the meeting. We look forward to seeing you.
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| Sincerely, | ||
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Dr. John Coustas Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer |
IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF PROXY MATERIALS FOR THE ANNUAL STOCKHOLDERS MEETING TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2011
The notice of annual meeting of stockholders, proxy statement, proxy card and our 2010 Annual Report to Stockholders, as well as our Annual Report on Form 20-F, are available at www.danaos.agmdocuments.com.
YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT. IN ORDER TO ENSURE YOUR REPRESENTATION AT THE 2011 ANNUAL MEETING AND THAT A QUORUM WILL BE PRESENT, WE URGE YOU TO COMPLETE, SIGN, DATE AND RETURN YOUR PROXY CARD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. A PROMPT RESPONSE IS HELPFUL AND YOUR COOPERATION WILL BE APPRECIATED. THE RETURN OF THIS PROXY CARD WILL NOT AFFECT YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE IN PERSON, SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO ATTEND THE 2011 ANNUAL MEETING.
DANAOS CORPORATION
c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd.
14 Akti Kondyli
185 45 Piraeus
Greece
NOTICE OF 2011 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2011
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Danaos Corporation, a Marshall Islands corporation, will be held at 10:00 a.m. Greek local time, on Friday, July 22, 2011 at the offices of our manager, Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece for the following purposes:
During the 2011 Annual Meeting, management also will discuss our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2010. Copies of our audited consolidated financial statements are contained in our 2010 Annual Report to Stockholders, which is available on our website at www.danaos.com under the "Investor Relations" section or www.danaos.agmdocuments.com. We have elected to make our 2010 Annual Report to Stockholders available on our website, rather than enclosing a copy, in order to reduce the environmental impact associated with its printing.
Only holders of record of our common stock, par value $0.01 per share, at the close of business on June 15, 2011 will be entitled to receive notice of, and to vote at, the 2011 Annual Meeting and at any adjournments or postponements thereof.
You are cordially invited to attend the 2011 Annual Meeting. Whether or not you expect to attend the 2011 Annual Meeting in person, please fill out, sign, date and return at your earliest convenience, in the envelope provided, the enclosed proxy card, which is being solicited on behalf of our Board of Directors. The proxy card shows the form in which your shares of common stock are registered. Your signature must be in the same form. The return of the proxy card does not affect your right to vote in person, should you decide to attend the 2011 Annual Meeting. We look forward to seeing you.
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| By Order of the Board of Directors | ||
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| Evangelos Chatzis Secretary Piraeus, Greece June 22, 2011 |
DANAOS CORPORATION
c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd.
14 Akti Kondyli
185 45 Piraeus
Greece
PROXY STATEMENT FOR THE 2011 ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS
TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2011
This Proxy Statement is furnished in connection with the solicitation of proxies by and on behalf of the Board of Directors of Danaos Corporation, a Marshall Islands corporation, for use at the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of the Company to be held at 10:00 a.m. Greek local time, on Friday, July 22, 2011 at the offices of our manager, Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece and at any adjournments or postponements thereof.
This Proxy Statement and the accompanying materials are first being sent and made available to our stockholders on or about June 22, 2011. If you would like to receive, at no cost, a printed copy of our 2010 Annual Report to Stockholders, please contact our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, Evangelos Chatzis, by telephone at +30 210 419 6480 or by writing to his attention at Danaos Corporation, c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
A proxy in the accompanying form that is properly executed, returned and not subsequently revoked will be voted in accordance with instructions contained therein. If no instructions are given with respect to the matters to be acted upon, proxies will be voted as follows: (i) for the election of the three nominees for directors described herein, (ii) for the ratification of the appointment of our independent auditors, and (iii) otherwise in accordance with the best judgment of the person or persons voting the proxy on any other matter properly brought before the 2011 Annual Meeting or any adjournments or postponements thereof. Any stockholder who signs and returns the proxy may revoke it at any time before it is exercised by (i) delivering written notice to our Secretary of its revocation, (ii) executing and delivering to our Secretary a later dated proxy or (iii) appearing in person at the 2011 Annual Meeting and expressing a desire to vote his, her or its shares in person. You may not revoke a proxy merely by attending the 2011 Annual Meeting. To revoke a proxy, you must take one of the actions described above.
The expenses of the preparation of proxy materials and the solicitation of proxies for the 2011 Annual Meeting will be borne by us. In addition to solicitation by mail, proxies may be solicited in person, by telephone, telecopy, electronically or other means, or by our directors, officers and regular employees who will not receive additional compensation for such solicitations. Although there is no formal agreement to do so, we will reimburse banks, brokerage firms and other custodians, nominees and fiduciaries for reasonable expenses incurred by them in forwarding the proxy soliciting materials to the beneficial owners of our common stock.
Holders of our common stock as of the close of business on June 15, 2011 will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, the 2011 Annual Meeting or any adjournments or postponements thereof. On
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that date there were 109,002,373 shares of our common stock outstanding, the holders of which are entitled to one vote for each share registered in their names with respect to each matter to be voted on at the 2011 Annual Meeting. The presence in person or by proxy of stockholders of record holding at least a majority of the shares issued and outstanding and entitled to vote at the 2011 Annual Meeting (regardless of whether the proxy has authority to vote on all matters) will constitute a quorum at the 2011 Annual Meeting. If the 2011 Annual Meeting is adjourned for lack of quorum on two successive occasions, at the next and any subsequent adjournment of the 2011 Annual Meeting there must be present either in person or by proxy stockholders of record holding at least 40% of our common stock entitled to vote at the 2011 Annual Meeting in order to constitute a quorum.
Assuming that a quorum is present at the 2011 Annual Meeting, directors will be elected by a plurality of votes cast. There is no provision for cumulative voting. Approval of other items at the 2011 Annual Meeting will require the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast. Abstentions and broker non-votes will not affect the election of directors or the outcome of the vote on other proposals.
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
The following table sets forth certain information regarding the beneficial ownership of our outstanding common stock as of June 15, 2011 held by:
Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. In general, a person who has voting power or investment power with respect to securities is treated as a beneficial owner of those securities. Beneficial ownership does not necessarily imply that the named person has the economic or other benefits of ownership. For purposes of this table, shares subject to options, warrants or rights currently exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of June 15, 2011 are considered as beneficially owned by the person holding those options, warrants or rights. Each stockholder is entitled to one vote for each share held. The applicable percentage of ownership of each stockholder is based on 109,002,373 shares of common stock outstanding. Information for certain holders is based on their latest filings with the SEC or information
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delivered to us. Unless otherwise noted, the address of each of the executive officers and directors identified in the table and accompanying footnotes is in care of our principal executive offices.
Identity of Person or Group
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Number of Shares of Common Stock Owned |
Percentage of Common Stock |
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Executive Officers and Directors: |
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John Coustas(1) |
67,633,140 | 62.0 | % | ||||
Iraklis Prokopakis |
316,384 |
* |
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Evangelos Chatzis |
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Dimitris Vastarouchas |
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George Economou(2) |
11,471,621 |
10.5 |
% |
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Andrew B. Fogarty |
98,029 |
* |
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Myles R. Itkin |
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Miklós Konkoly-Thege |
22,710 |
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Robert A. Mundell |
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Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis |
270,271 |
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5% Beneficial Owners: |
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Danaos Investments Limited as Trustee of the 883 Trust(3) |
67,633,140 | 62.0 | % | ||||
Sphinx Investments Corp.(2) |
11,471,621 |
10.5 |
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Avignon International Corporation(4) |
8,108,109 |
7.4 |
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All executive officers and directors as a group (9 persons) |
79,812,155 |
73.2 |
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deemed the beneficial owner of the shares held by Sphinx Investments Corp. The address of Sphinx Investments Corp. is c/o Mare Services Limited, 5/1 Merchants Street, Valletta, Malta.
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PROPOSAL ONEELECTION OF DIRECTORS
Our Board currently consists of seven directors. Under our Restated Articles of Incorporation, the directors are divided into three classes, one of which is elected each year, with each director elected holding office for a three-year term and until his respective successor is elected and qualified. We have determined that Messrs. Economou, Fogarty, Itkin, Konkoly-Thege and Mundell are each independent, as none of them have any relationship or have had any transaction with us which the Board believes would compromise their independence.
Messrs. Economou, Fogarty and Prokopakis are Class II directors whose terms expire this year. Each is standing for election as a director at the 2011 Annual Meeting and, if elected, will serve a three-year term expiring at the annual meeting of our stockholders in 2014. Each of them has consented to be named herein and to serve if elected. We do not know of anything that would preclude any nominee from serving if elected. If any nominee becomes unable to stand for election as a director at the 2011 Annual Meeting, an event not anticipated by the Board, the proxy may be voted for a substitute designated by the Board. The identity and a brief biography of each nominee for director and each continuing director is set forth below.
The Board recommends that stockholders vote "FOR" the election of each of the following three nominees for director.
Name
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Age(1) | Positions | Director Since |
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Iraklis Prokopakis(2) |
60 | Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer and Class II DirectorTerm to Expire in 2011 | 1998 | ||||||
George Economou |
58 |
Class II DirectorTerm to Expire in 2011 |
2010 |
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Andrew B. Fogarty(2)(3) |
66 |
Class II DirectorTerm to Expire in 2011 |
2006 |
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DIRECTORS CONTINUING IN OFFICE
Name
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Age(1) | Positions | Director Since |
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Dr. John Coustas |
55 | President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman and Class I DirectorTerm to Expire in 2012 | 1998 | ||||||
Myles R. Itkin(3)(4) |
63 |
Class I DirectorTerm to Expire in 2012 |
2006 |
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Dr. Robert A. Mundell(4) |
79 |
Class I DirectorTerm to Expire in 2012 |
2006 |
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Miklós Konkoly-Thege(2)(3) |
68 |
Class III DirectorTerm to Expire in 2013 |
2006 |
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Nominees for Election
The Board has nominated the following individuals to serve as directors:
Iraklis Prokopakis
Class II Director, Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Prokopakis is our Senior Vice President, Treasurer, Chief Operating Officer and a member of our board of directors. Mr. Prokopakis joined us in 1998 and has over 32 years of experience in the shipping industry. Prior to entering the shipping industry, Mr. Prokopakis was a captain in the Hellenic Navy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Portsmouth University in the United Kingdom, a Master's degree in Naval Architecture and a Ship Risk Management Diploma from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and a post-graduate diploma in business studies from the London School of Economics. Mr. Prokopakis also has a Certificate in Operational Audit of Banks from the Management Center Europe in Brussels and a Safety Risk Management Certificate from Det Norske Veritas.
George Economou
Class II Director
Mr. Economou has been a member of our board of directors since August 2010. Mr. Economou has over 31 years of experience in the maritime industry and he has served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dryships Inc. since its incorporation in 2004 and of its subsidiary Ocean Rig UDW Inc. since 2010. He successfully took Dryships Inc. public in February 2005 on NASDAQ under the trading symbol: DRYS. Mr. Economou has overseen Dryships' growth into the largest US-listed dry bulk company in fleet size and revenue and the second largest Panamax owner in the world. Between 1986 and 1991 he invested and participated in the formation of numerous individual shipping companies and in 1991 he founded Cardiff Marine Inc. Mr. Economou is a member of ABS Council, Intertanko Hellenic Shipping Forum and Lloyds Register Hellenic Advisory Committee. Mr. Economou is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and a Master of Science in Shipping and Shipbuilding Management.
Andrew B. Fogarty
Class II Director
Mr. Fogarty has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Mr. Fogarty has over 25 years of experience in the transportation industry. After a career in government, including as Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Virginia, from 1989 Mr. Fogarty held various executive positions with CSX Corporation or its predecessors, including as Senior Vice PresidentCorporate Services of CSX Corporation from 2001 to 2005, and as Special Assistant to the Chairman of CSX from 2006 to 2009. Previously, Mr. Fogarty also held the positions of President and CEO of CSX World Terminals, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sea-Land Service, Inc. CSX is one of the world's leading transportation companies providing rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services. Mr. Fogarty is the former chairman and current member of the board of directors of the National Defense Transportation Association and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hofstra University, a Master's of Public Administration from the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the State University of New York, and a Ph.D. from Florida State University.
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The following directors will continue in office:
Class I DirectorsTerm to Expire in 2012
Dr. John Coustas
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Coustas is our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and has been a member of the Board since 1998. Dr. Coustas has over 27 years of experience in the shipping industry. Dr. Coustas assumed management of our company in 1987 from his father, Dimitris Coustas, who founded Danaos Shipping in 1972, and has been responsible for our corporate strategy and the management of our affairs since that time. Dr. Coustas is also a member of the board of directors of Danaos Management Consultants, The Swedish Club, the Union of Greek Shipowners and the Cyprus Union of Shipowners and Vice Chairman of HELMEPA (Hellenic Maritime Protection Agency). Dr. Coustas holds a degree in Marine Engineering from National Technical University of Athens as well as a Master's degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D in Computer Controls from Imperial College, London.
Myles R. Itkin
Director
Mr. Itkin has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Mr. Itkin is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. ("OSG"), in which capacities he has served, with the exception of a promotion from Senior Vice President to Executive Vice President in 2006, since 1995. Prior to joining OSG in June 1995, Mr. Itkin was employed by Alliance Capital Management L.P. as Senior Vice President of Finance. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Finance at Northwest Airlines, Inc. Mr. Itkin joined the board of directors of the U.K. P&I Club in 2006. Mr. Itkin holds a Bachelor's degree from Cornell University and an MBA from New York University.
Dr. Robert A. Mundell
Director
Dr. Mundell has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Dr. Mundell is the University Professor of Economics at Columbia University. Dr. Mundell's principal occupation since 1967 has been as a member of the faculty of Columbia University. Dr. Mundell has served as a member of the board of directors of Olympus Corporation since 2005. Since 2003, Dr. Mundell has also served as Chairman of the Word Executive Institute in Beijing, China. He has been an adviser to a number of international agencies and organizations including the United Nations, the IMF, the World Bank, the Government of Canada, several governments in Latin America and Europe, the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Treasury. In 1999 Dr. Mundell received the Nobel Prize in Economics. Dr. Mundell holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia, a Master's degree from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Class III DirectorsTerm to Expire in 2013
Miklós Konkoly-Thege
Director
Mr. Konkoly-Thege has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Mr. Konkoly-Thege began at Det Norske Veritas ("DNV"), a ship classification society, in 1984. From 1984 through 2002, Mr. Konkoly-Thege served in various capacities with DNV including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Controller, Head of Corporate Management Staff and Head of Business Areas. Mr. Konkoly-Thege became President and Chairman of the Executive Board of DNV in 2002 and served in that capacity until his retirement in May 2006.
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Mr. Konkoly-Thege is a member of the board of directors of Wilhelmsen Maritime Services Holding AS. Mr. Konkoly-Thege holds a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from Technische Universität Hannover, Germany and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE COMPANY
Our executive officers are generally elected annually by the Board and serve at the discretion of the Board. Our current executive officers and their respective ages and positions are set forth below. The biographical summaries of Dr. Coustas and Mr. Prokopakis, each of whom serves as a member of the Board, appear above while Messrs. Chatzis' and Vastarouchas' biographical summaries are set forth below.
Name
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Age(1) | Positions | |||
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Dr. John Coustas |
55 | President and Chief Executive Officer | |||
Iraklis Prokopakis |
60 |
Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer |
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Evangelos Chatzis |
38 |
Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary |
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Dimitris Vastarouchas |
43 |
Deputy Chief Operating Officer |
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The following are our officers who are not directors:
Evangelos Chatzis is our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. Mr. Chatzis joined us in 2005 and has over 15 years of experience in corporate finance and the shipping industry. Prior to joining us, he was Chief Financial Officer of Globe Group of Companies, a public company in Greece engaged in a diverse scope of activities including dry bulk shipping, the textile industry, food production & distribution and real estate. Throughout his career he has developed considerable experience in operations, finance, treasury management, risk management and international business structuring. Mr. Chatzis holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics, a Master's of Science degree in Shipping Trade & Finance from City University Cass Business School, as well as a post-graduate diploma in Shipping Risk Management from IMD Business School.
Dimitris Vastarouchas is our Deputy Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Vastarouchas has been the Technical Manager of our Manager since 2005 and has over 14 years of experience in the shipping industry. Mr. Vastarouchas initially joined our Manager in 1995 and prior to becoming Technical Manager he was the New Buildings Projects and Site Manager, under which capacity he supervised newbuilding projects in Korea for 4,250, 5,500 and 8,500 TEU containerships. He holds a degree in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Certificates & Licenses of expertise in the fields of Aerodynamics (C.I.T.), Welding (CSWIP), Marine Coating (FROSIO) and Insurance (North of England P&I). He is also a qualified auditor by Net Norske Veritas.
Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis resigned as our Vice President and Chief Financial Officer as of June 10, 2011 and Evangelos Chatzis, previously Deputy Chief Financial Officer, became Acting Chief Financial Officer as of that date. Mr. Andritsoyiannis also resigned from our board of directors on the same date, thereby reducing the size of the board of directors from 8 to 7 members.
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Our business is managed under the direction of the Board, in accordance with the Business Corporations Act of the Republic of The Marshall Islands and our Restated Articles of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws. Members of the Board are kept informed of our business through: (i) discussions with the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer and other members of our management team; (ii) the review of materials provided to directors; and (iii) participation in meetings of the Board and its committees.
Documents Establishing Our Corporate Governance
The Board and our management have engaged in an ongoing review of our corporate governance practices in order to ensure full compliance with the applicable corporate governance rules of the New York Stock Exchange and the SEC.
Our corporate charter and bylaws are the foundation of our corporate governance. We have also adopted a number of key documents that further shape our corporate governance, including:
These documents and other important information on our corporate governance, including the Board's Corporate Governance Guidelines, are posted on our website, and may be viewed at http://www.danaos.com at "Corporate ProfileCorporate Governance." We will also provide a paper copy of any of these documents upon the written request of a stockholder. Stockholders may direct their requests to the attention of our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, Mr. Evangelos Chatzis, Danaos Corporation, c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
The Board has a commitment to sound and effective corporate governance practices. The Board's Corporate Governance Guidelines address a number of important governance issues such as:
The Board believes that the Corporate Governance Guidelines and other governance documents meet current requirements and reflect a high standard of corporate governance.
We are a "foreign private issuer" under SEC rules promulgated under the Securities Act and a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance standards. Pursuant to certain exceptions for foreign private issuers and controlled companies, we are not required to comply with certain of the corporate governance practices followed by U.S. and non-controlled companies under the New York Stock Exchange listing standards. We have elected to comply, however, with the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance rules applicable to both
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U.S. and foreign private issuers that are "controlled companies," other than that, as permitted for foreign private issuers and controlled companies, one member of the compensation committee and, until June 10, 2011, of the nominating and corporate governance committee of our board of directors is a non-independent director and as described below.
On August 6, 2010, we entered into agreements with several investors, including our largest stockholder, which is controlled by Dr. Coustas, our Chief Executive Officer, and Sphinx Investments Corp., which is affiliated with George Economou, one of our directors, to sell to them 54,054,055 shares of our common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $200 million in cash. The shares were issued at $3.70 per share on August 12, 2010. The equity transaction was a departure from our policy of complying with the New York Stock Exchange shareholder approval requirements, specifically NYSE Rules 312.03(b) and 312.03(c), despite being permitted, as a foreign private issuer, to follow the corporate governance rules of our home country in lieu of these NYSE rules. For this transaction, in consideration of the circumstances described below, we elected to comply with the provisions of the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act which provide that the Board of Directors approve such share issuances, without the need for stockholder approval, in lieu of the NYSE rules. As noted below, the receipt of $200 million in proceeds from equity issuances, including up to $100 million from affiliates of our Chief Executive Officer and his family, was a condition to the arrangements we reached with our lenders. After evaluating market conditions for a transaction that would satisfy this condition, we perceived that the terms on which the above described equity transaction could be executed were more favorable than those that would be available in a broader offering, which would have had no assurance of successful completion.
Independence of Directors
The foundation for our corporate governance is the Board's policy that a majority of its members should be independent. The Board believes that Messrs. Economou, Fogarty, Itkin, Konkoly-Thege and Mundell do not have or have not had a material relationship with us either directly or indirectly during 2010 that would interfere with the exercise of their independent judgment as our directors.
The Board made its determination of independence in accordance with its Corporate Governance Guidelines, which specifies standards and a process for evaluating director independence. The Corporate Governance Guidelines provide that absent unusual circumstances, a director who satisfies the standards of director independence under the New York Stock Exchange's current listing standards will be deemed to be "independent." In determining whether a director qualifies as independent, consideration is given to the following factors, among others:
The Corporate Governance Guidelines require that determinations of director independence be made in accordance with the following procedures: (1) the Board makes its determinations as to director independence annually at the Board meeting preceding the expected release of our proxy statement for the annual meeting of stockholders; (2) the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews the independence of directors and reports its findings to the Board at that Board meeting; (3) the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee or the Board may request a
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written report or documentation collecting and summarizing information relevant to its determination of a director's independence; and (4) if required by the listing criteria of the New York Stock Exchange, the Board will issue a statement briefly explaining the basis for its determination that a director is independent and include such statement in our proxy statement for the annual meeting of stockholders.
Board of Directors
At December 31, 2010 we had eight members on our board of directors. In connection with the $200 million equity transaction, which satisfied a condition of our lenders for the restructuring of our existing debt obligations and obtaining new debt financing in 2011 (the "Bank Agreement"), our directors increased the size of our board to eight and appointed George Economou to the board of directors as described below. As of June 10, 2011, Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis resigned as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and from our board of directors, reducing the size of the board of directors to seven directors. The board of directors may change the number of directors to not less than two, nor more than 15, by a vote of a majority of the entire board. Each director is elected to serve until the third succeeding annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor has been duly elected and qualified, except in the event of death, resignation or removal. A vacancy on the board created by death, resignation, removal (which may only be for cause), or failure of the stockholders to elect the entire class of directors to be elected at any election of directors or for any other reason, may be filled only by an affirmative vote of a majority of the remaining directors then in office, even if less than a quorum, at any special meeting called for that purpose or at any regular meeting of the board of directors.
Following completion of our $200 million equity transaction on August 12, 2010, Mr. Economou was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company as an independent director in accordance with the terms of the subscription agreement between Sphinx Investments Corp. and us. We have agreed to nominate Mr. Economou or such other person, in each case who shall be acceptable to us, designated by Sphinx Investments Corp., for election by our stockholders to the Board of Directors at each annual meeting of stockholders at which the term of Mr. Economou or such other director so designated expires, so long as such investor beneficially owns a specified minimum amount of our common stock. We have been informed that our largest stockholder, a family trust established by Dr. John Coustas, and Dr. John Coustas have agreed to vote all of the shares of common stock they own, or over which they have voting control, in favor of any such nominee standing for election.
During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010, the board of directors held 13 meetings. In addition to meetings, the Board and its committees reviewed and acted upon matters by unanimous written consent from time to time. Each director then in office attended all of the meetings of the full board of directors and of the committees of which the director was a member.
To promote open discussion among the independent directors, our independent directors met twice in 2010 in regularly scheduled executive sessions without participation of our company's management and will continue to do so in the remainder of 2011 and in 2012. Mr. Andrew B. Fogarty has served as the presiding director for purposes of these meetings. Stockholders who wish to send communications on any topic to the board of directors or to the independent directors as a group, or to the presiding director, Mr. Andrew B. Fogarty, may do so by writing to him at Danaos Corporation, c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
The Board has not adopted any specific policy with respect to the attendance of directors at annual meetings of stockholders. We held our 2010 annual meeting of stockholders in November 2010.
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The Board has established an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee and a Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, each of which has a charter that may be viewed at http://www.danaos.com at "Corporate ProfileCorporate Governance." We will also provide a paper copy of any of these documents upon the written request of a stockholder. Stockholders may direct their requests to the attention of our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, Mr. Evangelos Chatzis, Danaos Corporation, c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee consists of Myles R. Itkin (chairman), Andrew B. Fogarty and Miklós Konkoly-Thege. All of the Audit Committee members are "independent," as such term is defined under the applicable rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange's current listing standards. The board of directors has determined that Mr. Itkin qualifies as an audit committee "financial expert," as such term is defined in Regulation S-K. The audit committee is responsible for (1) the retention, termination and compensation of the independent auditors and approving any non-audit work performed by such auditor, (2) approving the overall scope of the audit, (3) assisting the board in monitoring the integrity of our financial statements, the independent accountant's qualifications and independence, the performance of the independent accountants and our internal audit function and our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (4) annually reviewing an independent auditors' report describing the auditing firms' internal quality-control procedures, any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the auditing firm, (5) discussing the annual audited financial and quarterly statements with management and the independent auditor, (6) discussing earnings press releases, as well as financial information and earning guidance, (7) discussing policies with respect to risk assessment and risk management, (8) meeting separately, periodically, with management, internal auditors and the independent auditor, (9) reviewing with the independent auditor any audit problems or difficulties and management's response, (10) setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent auditors, (11) annually reviewing the adequacy of the audit committee's written charter, (12) handling such other matters that are specifically delegated to the audit committee by the board of directors from time to time, (13) reporting regularly to the full board of directors and (14) evaluating the board of directors' performance. During 2010, there were five meetings of the audit committee.
Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee consists of Andrew B. Fogarty (chairman), Miklós Konkoly-Thege and Iraklis Prokopakis. All of the Compensation Committee members, except for Mr. Prokopakis, are "independent," as such term is defined under the New York Stock Exchange's current listing standards. As such, we rely on the "controlled company" exemption to the New York Stock Exchange requirement that compensation committees be composed entirely of independent directors. We are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange's corporate governance standards because more than 50% of our voting power is held by another company, individual or group. The Compensation Committee is responsible for (1) reviewing key employee compensation policies, plans and programs, (2) reviewing and approving the compensation of our Chief Executive Officer and our other executive officers, (3) developing and recommending to the Board compensation for Board members, (4) reviewing and approving employment contracts and other similar arrangements between us and our executive officers, (5) reviewing and consulting with our Chief Executive Officer on the selection of officers and evaluation of executive performance and other related matters, (6) administration of stock plans and other incentive compensation plans, (7) overseeing compliance with any applicable compensation reporting requirements of the SEC, (8) retaining consultants to advise the Compensation Committee on executive compensation practices and policies and (9) handling
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such other matters that are specifically delegated to the Compensation Committee by the Board from time to time. The Compensation Committee met twice in 2010.
The Compensation Committee determines the compensation of our executive officers based on the Compensation Committee's evaluation of our Company's performance and the performance of the executive officer, information regarding competitive compensation and such other factors and circumstances as the Compensation Committee may deem relevant. The Compensation Committee also recommends to the Board the compensation of members of the Board, including Board and committee retainer fees, equity-based compensation and other similar items as appropriate. Compensation Committee actions that have a material effect on the amount or timing of compensation or benefits to non-executive directors are in all cases subject to the approval or ratification of the Board, unless specific authority for the Compensation Committee to take such action has been delegated by the Board. Other than in the capacity as a member of the Compensation Committee, in the case of Iraklis Prokopakis, our Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer, our executive officers do not have any role in determining or recommending the amount or form of executive officer or director compensation.
The Compensation Committee is authorized to retain any compensation consultants that it deems necessary in the performance of its duties and to approve the compensation consultant's retention terms and fees. The Compensation Committee did not retain any compensation consultants in 2010.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee consists of Robert A. Mundell (chairman), Myles R. Itkin and, until June 10, 2011, had also included since 2006 Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis. All of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee members are and, except for Mr. Andritsoyiannis until the effectiveness of his resignation on June 10, 2011, were "independent," as such term is defined under the New York Stock Exchange's current listing standards. For the period of Mr. Andritsoyiannis' service on the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee we relied on the "controlled company" exemption to the New York Stock Exchange requirement that nominating committees be composed entirely of independent directors. We are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange's corporate governance standards because more than 50% of our voting power is held by another company, individual or group. The Nominating and Corporate Governance committee is responsible for (1) developing and recommending criteria for selecting new directors, (2) screening and recommending to the Board individuals qualified to become executive officers, (3) overseeing evaluations of the Board, its members and committees of the Board and (4) handling such other matters that are specifically delegated to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee by the Board from time to time. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee did not meet in 2010.
Stockholder Nominations. Any stockholder or the Board may propose any person for election as a director. A stockholder who wishes to propose an individual for election as a director must provide written notice to our Secretary of the intention to propose the nominee and such nominee's willingness to serve as a director. Notice must be given not less than 90 days before the anniversary of the last annual meeting of stockholders prior to the notice or not less than 10 days prior to the meeting at which directors are to be elected, whichever deadline occurs earlier. In addition, each notice must set forth as to each individual whom a stockholder proposes to nominate for election as a director, (i) the name, age, business address and residence address of such individual, (ii) the principal occupation or employment of such individual, (iii) the number of shares of common stock of the Company which are beneficially owned by such individual, and (iv) any other information relating to such individual that is required to be disclosed under the rules of the SEC applicable to solicitations of proxies with respect to nominees for election as directors. The stockholder proposing the nominee must provide (a) his or her name and address, as they appear on the register of stockholders of the Company, (b) the number of
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shares of our common stock which are beneficially owned by such stockholder, and (c) the period of time such shares of common stock have been owned. Individuals proposed by stockholders in accordance with these procedures will receive the same consideration that individuals identified to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee through other means have.
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee evaluates candidates for election as directors by considering, among other things, (i) the candidate's experience, education, expertise and skills, and how those attributes relate to our business; (ii) how those attributes of a given candidate would complement the other Board members; (iii) the candidate's independence from conflict of interest with us; (iv) the candidate's ability to devote appropriate time and effort in preparation for board meetings; (v) the candidate's character, judgment and reputation, and current or past service in positions or affiliations, and (vi) in determining whether to recommend the nomination of an incumbent director for election, considerations as to whether the incumbent director has performed effectively in his or her most recent years of service and whether the director continues to substantially meet the criteria for selection as director.
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee evaluates qualified director candidates at regular or special Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee meetings against the current director qualification standards and reviews qualified director candidates with the Board and recommends one or more of such individuals for appointment to the Board.
Indemnification
Under the Business Corporations Act of the Republic of The Marshall Islands and our Amended and Restated Bylaws, every director or officer will be indemnified out of our funds against all civil liabilities, losses, damages, charges or expenses (including but not limited to an amount paid to settle an action, satisfy a judgment, liabilities under contract, tort and statute or any applicable foreign law or regulation and all reasonable legal and other costs and expenses properly payable) incurred or suffered by him or her as such director or officer while exercising his or her powers and discharging his or her duties. The indemnity contained in our Amended and Restated Bylaws does not extend to any matter that would render it void pursuant to the Business Corporations Act of the Republic of The Marshall Islands.
Stockholder Communications with Directors
Our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring business before an annual meeting of stockholders must provide timely notice of their proposal in writing to our Secretary. Generally, to be timely, a stockholder's notice must be received at our principal executive offices not less than 90 days or more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary date of the previous year's annual meeting of stockholders. Our Amended and Restated Bylaws also specify requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder's notice. These provisions may impede stockholders' ability to bring matters before, or to make nominations for directors at, an annual meeting of stockholders. Individuals proposed as candidates for election as director by stockholders in accordance with these procedures will receive the same consideration that individuals identified to the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee through other means have.
Stockholders who wish to send communications on any topic to the Board, the independent members of the Board as a group or to the presiding director of the executive sessions of the independent members of the Board, Mr. Andrew B. Fogarty, may do so by writing to our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, Mr. Evangelos D. Chatzis, at Danaos Corporation, c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
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Compensation Discussion and Analysis
The Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors has the responsibility to review, discuss and recommend for approval management compensation arrangements. The members of the Compensation Committee are Andrew B. Fogarty (Chairman), Miklós Konkoly-Thege and Iraklis Prokopakis. Messrs. Fogarty and Konkoly-Thege are "independent," as such term is defined under the New York Stock Exchange's current listing standards, whereas Mr. Prokopakis is not. As such, we rely on the "controlled company" exemption to the New York Stock Exchange requirement that compensation committees be composed entirely of independent directors. We are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange's corporate governance standards because more than 50% of our voting power is held by another company, individual or group.
The policy of the Compensation Committee is to structure officers' compensation arrangements so as to enable us to attract, motivate and retain high performance executives who are critical to our long-term success. The policy is designed to link compensation to how successfully our business plans are executed and how successfully we meet a number of corporate, financial and operational goals. This design is intended to provide key management personnel with increased compensation when we do well and to provide less compensation when we do not.
Compensation
We pay our non-executive directors annual fees in the amount of $62,500, an increase effective January 1, 2008 from $50,000, plus reimbursement for their out-of-pocket expenses, which amounts are payable at the election of each non-executive director in cash or stock as described below. Executive officers serving as directors receive no compensation for their services as a director.
During the year ended December 31, 2008, we paid our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and former Chief Financial Officer an aggregate amount of $1.6 million and during the year ended December 31, 2009, we paid these executive officers, as well as our acting chief financial officer, who since January 1, 2009 has been directly employed and compensated by us and served as deputy chief financial officer from that time through June 10, 2011 when he became acting chief financial officer, an aggregate amount of $2.2 million. During the year ended December 31, 2010, we have paid these executive officers an aggregate amount of $2.0 million. Beginning January 1, 2011, we also directly compensate our Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Dimitris Vastarouchas, with whom we have a services agreement. Pursuant to the employment agreements we have entered into with these officers, from time to time we may pay any bonus component of their compensation in the form of restricted stock, stock options or other awards under our equity compensation plan. Our equity compensation plan allows the plan administrator to grant awards of shares of our common stock or the right to receive or purchase shares of our common stock (including restricted stock, stock options and other awards) to our employees, directors or other persons or entities providing significant services to us or our subsidiaries. The aggregate number of shares of our common stock for which awards may be granted under our equity compensation plan cannot exceed 6% of the number of shares of our common stock issued and outstanding at the time any award is granted. No equity awards were granted to our executive officers in 2008, 2009 or 2010.
As of April 18, 2008, we established the Directors Share Payment Plan, which we refer to as the Directors Plan, under our Equity Incentive Plan, which we refer to as the Plan. The purpose of our Directors Plan is to provide a means of payment, under the Plan, of all or a portion of compensation payable to directors of the company in the form of our common stock. Each member of our Board of Directors may participate in the Directors Plan. Pursuant to the terms of the Directors Plan, Directors may elect to receive all or a portion of their compensation in common stock which is credited to their respective share payment accounts on the last business day of each quarter. Following December 31st of each year, we will deliver to each director the number of shares represented by the
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rights credited to their Share Payment Account during the preceding calendar year. The Directors Plan is administered and otherwise subject to the terms and conditions, including limitations on the number of shares issued, under the Plan. Non-executive directors electing to receive common stock in lieu of cash compensation resulted in the right to receive 6,112 shares of common stock during 2008, 13,110 shares of common stock during 2009 and 15,517 shares of common stock during 2010, which shares of common stock granted in 2008, 2009 and 2010 were distributed to non-executive directors in the first half of 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively, from shares held as treasury stock.
Compensation Committee Report
The Compensation Committee has reviewed and discussed the "Compensation Discussion and Analysis" set forth above with management and based on such review and discussion the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board of Directors that the "Compensation Discussion and Analysis" be included in this proxy statement.
Compensation Committee
Andrew
B. Fogarty (Chairman)
Miklós Konkoly-Thege
Iraklis Prokopakis
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
All of the members of the Compensation Committee, except for Mr. Prokopakis, who serves as our Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer, are non-employee directors and are not former officers of the Company. During 2010, none of our executive officers served as a member of the board of directors or on the compensation committee of a corporation where any of its executive officers served on our Compensation Committee or on our Board.
Related Party Transactions
Common Stock Sale
On August 6, 2010, we entered into agreements with several investors to sell to them 54,054,055 shares of our common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $200 million in cash. The shares were issued and sold at $3.70 per share to all investors on August 12, 2010. This equity investment satisfied a condition to the Bank Agreement and approximately $425 million of new debt financing. The purchasers of the common stock included the Company's largest stockholder, Danaos Investments Limited as Trustee of the 883 Trust (23,945,945 shares of common stock), a family trust established by the Company's Chief Executive Officer Dr. John Coustas, and members of his family which together invested over $100.0 million. Additional investors included our then-Chief Operating Officer (108,109 shares of common stock) and our Chief Financial Officer (270,271 shares of common stock), as well as Sphinx Investments Corp. (11,471,621 shares of common stock), a private company affiliated with George Economou, and other investors.
Following completion of the equity transaction on August 12, 2010, Mr. Economou was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Company as an independent director in accordance with the terms of the subscription agreement between Sphinx Investments Corp. and the Company. We have agreed to nominate Mr. Economou or such other person, in each case who shall be acceptable to us, designated by Sphinx Investments Corp., for election by our stockholders to the Board of Directors at each annual meeting of stockholders at which the term of Mr. Economou or such other director so designated expires, so long as such investor beneficially owns a specified minimum amount of common stock. We have been informed that our largest stockholder, the aforementioned family trust, and Dr. John Coustas have agreed to vote all of the shares of Common Stock owned by them, or over which they have voting control, in favor of any such nominee standing for election.
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We granted the investors in the equity transaction certain registration rights in respect of the common stock issued in the equity transaction. We have also granted the investors in the equity transaction certain rights, in connection with any subsequent underwritten public offering that is effected at any time prior to the fifth anniversary of the registration rights agreements, to purchase from us, at the same price per share paid by investors who purchase common stock in any such offering, up to a specified portion of such common stock being issued. These rights are subject to, among other things, caps on the beneficial ownership of our common stock agreed to by certain investors in connection with the equity transaction.
Management Affiliations
Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., which we refer to as our Manager, is ultimately owned by Danaos Investments Limited as Trustee of the 883 Trust, which we refer to as the Coustas Family Trust. Danaos Investments Limited is the protector (which is analogous to a trustee) of the Coustas Family Trust, of which Dr. Coustas and other members of the Coustas family are beneficiaries. Dr. Coustas has certain powers to remove and replace Danaos Investments Limited as Trustee of the 883 Trust. The Coustas Family Trust is also our largest stockholder, owning approximately 62.0% of our outstanding common stock as of June 15, 2011. Our Manager has provided services to our vessels since 1972 and continues to provide technical, administrative and certain commercial services which support our business, as well as comprehensive ship management services such as technical supervision and commercial management, including chartering our vessels pursuant to a management agreement which was amended and restated as of September 18, 2006 and amended on February 12, 2009 and February 8, 2010.
Management fees in respect of continuing operations under our management agreement amounted to approximately $11.4 million in 2010, $8.7 million in 2009 and $7.0 million in 2008. The related expenses are shown under "General and administrative expenses" on the statement of income. We pay monthly advances in regard to these management fees. These prepaid management fees are presented in our consolidated balance sheet under "Due from related parties" and totaled $11.1 million and $8.6 million as of December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively.
Management Agreement
Under our management agreement, our Manager is responsible for providing us with technical, administrative and certain commercial services, which include the following:
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bookkeeping services, development and monitoring of internal audit controls, disclosure controls and information technology, assistance with all regulatory and reporting functions and obligations, furnishing any reports or financial information that might be requested by us and other non-vessel related administrative services, assistance with office space, providing legal and financial compliance services, overseeing banking services (including the opening, closing, operation and management of all of our accounts including making deposits and withdrawals reasonably necessary for the management of our business and day-to-day operations), arranging general insurance and director and officer liability insurance (at our expense), providing all administrative services required for subsequent debt and equity financings and attending to all other administrative matters necessary to ensure the professional management of our business (our Manager provides these administrative services at its own cost and in return therefore receives the commercial, chartering and administrative services fees); and
Reporting Structure
Our Manager reports to us and our Board of Directors through our executive officers. Under our management agreement, our executive officers may direct the Manager to remove and replace any officer or any person who serves as the head of a business unit of our Manager. Furthermore, our Manager will not remove any person serving as an officer or senior manager without the prior written consent of our executive officers.
Compensation of Our Manager
During the initial term of the management agreement, for providing its commercial, chartering and administrative services our manager received a fee of $500 per day and for its technical management of our ships, our manager received a management fee of $250 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $500 per vessel per day for the remaining vessels in our fleet, each pro rated for the number of calendar days we own each vessel. These fees are now adjusted annually by agreement between us and our manager. Should we be unable to agree with our Manager as to the new fees, the rate for the next year will be set at an amount that will maintain our Manager's average profit margin for the immediately preceding three years. For its chartering services rendered to us by its Hamburg- based office, our manager also receives a commission of 0.75% on all freight, charter hire, ballast bonus and demurrage for each vessel. Further, our manager receives a commission of 0.5% based on the contract price of any vessel bought or sold by it on our behalf, excluding newbuilding contracts. We also paid our manager a flat fee of $400,000 per newbuilding vessel, which we capitalized, for the on premises supervision of our newbuilding contracts by selected engineers and others of its staff.
On February 12, 2009, we signed an addendum to the management contract adjusting the management fees, effective January 1, 2009, to a fee of $575 per day for commercial, chartering and administrative services, a fee of $290 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $575 per vessel per day for vessels on time charter and a flat fee of $725,000 per newbuilding vessel for the supervision of newbuilding contracts. All commissions to the manager remained unchanged. On February 8, 2010, we signed an addendum to the management contract adjusting the management fees, effective January 1, 2010, to a fee of $675 per day for commercial, chartering and administrative services, a fee of $340 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $675 per vessel per day for vessels on time charter. All commissions to the manager remained unchanged. We believe these
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fees and commissions are no more than the rates we would need to pay an unaffiliated third party to provide us with these management services.
We also advance, on a monthly basis, all technical vessel operating expenses with respect to each vessel in our fleet to enable our Manager to arrange for the payment of such expenses on our behalf. To the extent the amounts advanced are greater or less than the actual vessel operating expenses of our fleet for a quarter, our Manager or us, as the case may be, will pay the other the difference at the end of such quarter, although our Manager may instead choose to credit such amount against future vessel operating expenses to be advanced for future quarters.
Term and Termination Rights
The initial term of the management agreement expired on December 31, 2008. The management agreement now automatically renews for one-year periods and will be extended, unless we give 12-months' written notice of non-renewal and subject to the termination rights described below, in additional one-year increments until December 31, 2020, at which point the agreement will expire.
Our Manager's Termination Rights. Our Manager may terminate the management agreement prior to the end of its term in the two following circumstances:
Our Termination Rights. We may terminate the management agreement prior to the end of its term in the two following circumstances upon providing the respective notice:
We also may terminate the management agreement immediately under any of the following circumstances:
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In addition, we may terminate any applicable ship management agreement in any of the following circumstances:
Non-competition
Our Manager has agreed that, during the term of the management agreement, it will not provide any management services to any other entity without our prior written approval, other than with respect to entities controlled by Dr. Coustas, our Chief Executive Officer, which do not operate within the containership (larger than 2,500 twenty foot equivalent units, or TEUs) or drybulk sectors of the shipping industry or in the circumstances described below. Dr. Coustas does not currently control any such vessel-owning entity or have an equity interest in any such entity, other than Castella Shipping Inc., owner of one 1,700 TEU vessel. Dr. Coustas has also personally agreed to the same restrictions on the provision, directly or indirectly, of management services during this period. In addition, our Chief Executive Officer (other than in his capacities with us) and our Manager have separately agreed not, during the term of our management agreement and for one year thereafter, to engage, directly or indirectly, in (i) the ownership or operation of containerships of larger than 2,500 TEUs or (ii) the ownership or operation of any drybulk carriers or (iii) the acquisition of or investment in any business involved in the ownership or operation of containerships larger than 2,500 TEUs or drybulk carriers. Notwithstanding these restrictions, if our independent directors decline the opportunity to acquire any such containerships or drybulk carriers or to acquire or invest in any such business, our Chief Executive Officer will have the right to make, directly or indirectly, any such acquisition or investment during the four-month period following such decision by our independent directors, so long as such acquisition or investment is made on terms no more favorable than those offered to us. In this case, our Chief Executive Officer and our Manager will be permitted to provide management services to such vessels.
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Sale of Our Manager
Our Manager has agreed that it will not transfer, assign, sell or dispose of all or a significant portion of its business that is necessary for the services our Manager performs for us without the prior written consent of our Board of Directors. Furthermore, in the event of any proposed sale of our Manager, we have a right of first refusal to purchase our Manager. This prohibition and right of first refusal is in effect throughout the term of the management agreement and for a period of one year following the expiry or termination of the management agreement. Our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. John Coustas, or any trust established for the Coustas family (under which Dr. Coustas and/or a member of his family is a beneficiary), is required, unless we expressly permit otherwise, to own 80% of our Manager's outstanding capital stock during the term of the management agreement and 80% of the voting power of our Manager's outstanding capital stock. In the event of any breach of these requirements, we would be entitled to purchase the capital stock of our Manager owned by Dr. Coustas or any trust established for the Coustas family (under which Dr. Coustas and/or a member of his family is a beneficiary). Under the terms of certain of our financing agreements, including the Bank Agreement, the failure of our Manager to continue managing our vessels securing such agreements would constitute an event of default thereunder.
The Swedish Club
Dr. John Coustas, our Chief Executive Officer, is a member of the Board of Directors of The Swedish Club, our primary provider of insurance, including a substantial portion of our hull & machinery, war risk and protection and indemnity insurance. During the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008, we paid premiums of $7.3 million, $7.4 million and $4.1 million, respectively, to The Swedish Club under these insurance policies.
Danaos Management Consultants
Our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. John Coustas, co-founded and has a 50.0% ownership interest in Danaos Management Consultants, which provides the ship management software deployed on the vessels in our fleet to our Manager on a complementary basis. Dr. Coustas does not participate in the day-to-day management of Danaos Management Consultants.
Offices
We occupy office space that is owned by our Manager and which is provided to us as part of the services we receive under our management agreement.
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PROPOSAL TWORATIFICATION OF APPOINTMENT OF
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS
Appointment of Auditors
The Audit Committee of the Board, subject to the approval of our stockholders, has appointed the firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A., independent registered public accounting firm, as our auditors for the year ending December 31, 2011. The Board recommends approval by our stockholders of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. as our auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2011. Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. are expected to be present at the 2011 Annual Meeting. They will have the opportunity to make a statement if they so desire, and are expected to be available to respond to appropriate questions from stockholders. PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. has been our independent auditors since 1999 and, by virtue of their familiarity with our affairs and their qualifications, are considered qualified to perform this important function.
Principal Accountant Fees and Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A., an independent registered public accounting firm, has audited our annual financial statements acting as our independent auditor for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008.
The chart below sets forth the total amount billed and accrued for the PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. services performed in 2010 and 2009 and breaks down these amounts by the category of service.
| |
2010 | 2009 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
(in thousands of dollars) |
|||||||
Audit fees |
$ | 444.2 | $ | 756.4 | ||||
Audit-related fees |
| $ | 124.0 | |||||
Total fees |
$ | 444.2 | $ | 880.4 | ||||
Audit Fees
Audit fees paid were compensation for professional services rendered for the audits of our consolidated financial statements.
Audit-related Fees
Audit-related fees for 2009 include audit-related fees in connection with the Registration Statement on Form F-1 (Reg. No. 333-161133), which we filed with the SEC in the third quarter of 2009 and subsequently withdrew.
Tax Fees
PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. did not provide any services that would be classified in this category in 2010 or 2009.
Other Fees
PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. did not provide any other services that would be classified in this category in 2010 or 2009.
Pre-approval Policies and Procedures
The audit committee charter sets forth our policy regarding retention of the independent auditors, requiring the audit committee to review and approve in advance the retention of the independent auditors
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for the performance of all audit and lawfully permitted non-audit services and the fees related thereto. The chairman of the audit committee or in the absence of the chairman, any member of the audit committee designated by the chairman, has authority to approve in advance any lawfully permitted non-audit services and fees. The audit committee is authorized to establish other policies and procedures for the pre-approval of such services and fees. Where non-audit services and fees are approved under delegated authority, the action must be reported to the full audit committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting.
The Audit Committee approved all of the non-audit services described above and determined that the provision of such services is compatible with maintaining the independence of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A.
The Audit Committee and the Board recommends that stockholders vote "FOR" the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. as our independent auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2011.
Principal Executive Offices
The address of our principal executive offices is c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece. Our telephone number at that address is +30 210 419 6480. Our corporate website address is http://www.danaos.com.
Audit Committee Report
The Audit Committee reviews our financial reporting process on behalf of the Board. The Audit Committee has the sole authority to retain, and set compensation and retention terms for, terminate, oversee and evaluate the work of our independent auditors. The independent auditors report directly to the Audit Committee. The Board has determined that each member of the Audit Committee is independent within the meaning of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Rule 10A-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the New York Stock Exchange's current listing standards.
Our management is responsible for our financial reporting process, including our system of internal controls, and for the preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. is responsible for expressing an opinion based upon their audits of the consolidated financial statements. The Audit Committee is responsible for overseeing these processes. The Audit Committee reviews our annual audited financial statements, quarterly financial statements and filings with the SEC. The Audit Committee also reviews reports on various matters, including: (1) our critical accounting policies; (2) material written communications between the independent auditors and management; (3) the independent auditors' internal quality-control procedures; (4) significant changes in our selection or application of accounting principles; and (5) the effect of regulatory and accounting initiatives on our financial statements. It is not the duty or the responsibility of the Audit Committee to conduct auditing and accounting reviews or procedures.
The Audit Committee has adopted policies and procedures for pre-approval of all audit and permissible non-audit engagements of the independent auditors and the related fees. Under the policy, prior to the engagement of the independent auditors for the next year's audit, our management submits an aggregate of services expected to be rendered during that year for each audit and permissible non-audit engagement to the Audit Committee for approval. The fees are budgeted and the Audit Committee receives periodic reports from our management and the independent auditors on actual fees versus the budget by type of service. During the year, circumstances may arise when it may become necessary to engage the independent auditors for additional services not contemplated in the pre-approved budget. In those instances, specific pre-approval of the Audit Committee is required to engage the independent auditors.
The Audit Committee has met and held discussions with our management and representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. Our management represented to the Audit Committee that our consolidated
23
financial statements were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, and the Audit Committee has reviewed and discussed the audited consolidated financial statements with our management and PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A.
The Audit Committee discussed with PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. the matters required to be discussed by Statement on Auditing Standards No. 61, "Communication with Audit Committees," as modified or supplemented. PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. also provided to the Audit Committee the written disclosures required by the applicable requirements of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding the communications of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. with the Audit Committee and the Audit Committee discussed with PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. the firm's independence. The Audit Committee reviewed the audit and non-audit fees paid to PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A., and also considered whether non-audit services performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. were compatible with maintaining the auditors' independence.
In performing all of these functions, the Audit Committee acts only in an oversight capacity and necessarily relies on the work and assurances of our management and independent auditors, which, in their report, express an opinion on the conformity of our annual financial statements to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
Based upon the Audit Committee's discussions with our management and PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. and the Audit Committee's review of the representations of our management and the report of the independent auditors to the Audit Committee, the Audit Committee recommended that the Board include the audited consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2010, filed with the SEC on April 8, 2011. The Audit Committee also approved, subject to stockholder ratification, the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. as our independent auditors.
| Audit Committee | ||
Myles R. Itkin (Chairman) Andrew B. Fogarty Miklós Konkoly-Thege |
24
United States Securities and Exchange Commission Reports
Copies of our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010, as filed with the SEC, and our Annual Report to Stockholders, are available to stockholders free of charge on our website at http://www.danaos.com under the "Investor Relations" section or www.danaos.agmdocuments.com or by requesting by telephone at +30 210 419 6480 or by writing to the attention of our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, Mr. Evangelos Chatzis, at Danaos Corporation, c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
General
The enclosed proxy for the 2011 Annual Meeting is solicited on behalf of the Board. Unless otherwise directed, proxies held by John Coustas, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, or Evangelos Chatzis, our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, will be voted at the 2011 Annual Meeting or any adjournments or postponements thereof for the election of all nominees to the Board named on the proxy card and for the appointment of the independent auditors. If any matter other than those described in this Proxy Statement properly comes before the 2011 Annual Meeting, or with respect to any adjournments or postponements thereof, the proxies will vote the shares of common stock represented by such proxies in accordance with their best judgment.
Please vote all of your shares. Beneficial stockholders sharing an address who receive multiple copies of the proxy materials should contact their broker, bank or other nominee to request that in the future only a single copy of each document be mailed to all stockholders at the shared address. In addition, if you are the beneficial owner, but not the record holder, of shares of common stock, your broker, bank or other nominee may deliver only one copy of the proxy materials to multiple stockholders who share an address unless that nominee has received contrary instructions from one or more of the stockholders. We will deliver promptly, upon written or oral request, a separate copy of the proxy materials to a stockholder at a shared address to which a single copy of the documents was delivered. Stockholders who wish to receive a separate copy of the Proxy Statement, Annual Report to Stockholders or Annual Report on Form 20-F, now or in the future, should submit their request to us by telephone at +30 210 419 6480 or by writing to the attention of our Acting Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, Mr. Evangelos Chatzis, at Danaos Corporation, c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece.
25
Exhibit 99.2
|
|
ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS OF DANAOS CORPORATION July 22, 2011 NOTICE OF INTERNET AVAILABILITY OF PROXY MATERIAL: The Notice of Meeting, Proxy Statement, Proxy Card are available at www.danaos.agmdocuments.com Please sign, date and mail your proxy card in the envelope provided as soon as possible. Signature of Stockholder Date: Signature of Stockholder Date: Note: Please sign exactly as your name or names appear on this Proxy. When shares are held jointly, each holder should sign. When signing as executor, administrator, attorney, trustee or guardian, please give full title as such. If the signer is a corporation, please sign full corporate name by duly authorized officer, giving full title as such. If signer is a partnership, please sign in partnership name by authorized person. To change the address on your account, please check the box at right and indicate your new address in the address space above. Please note that changes to the registered name(s) on the account may not be submitted via this method. 1. Election of the directors listed below to hold office for three years and until their successors are elected and qualified. O Iraklis Prokopakis O George Economou O Andrew B. Fogarty 2. Ratification of appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. as the Company's independent auditors for the year ending December 31, 2011. PLEASE INDICATE WITH AN "X" IN THE APPROPRIATE SPACE HOW YOU WISH YOUR SHARES TO BE VOTED. IF NO INDICATION IS GIVEN, PROXIES WILL BE VOTED FOR THE ELECTION OF ALL THE NOMINEES TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND FOR PROPOSAL TWO, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. TO INCLUDE ANY COMMENTS, USE THE COMMENTS BOX ON THE REVERSE SIDE OF THIS CARD. FOR AGAINST ABSTAIN FOR ALL NOMINEES WITHHOLD AUTHORITY FOR ALL NOMINEES FOR ALL EXCEPT (See instructions below) INSTRUCTIONS: To withhold authority to vote for any individual nominee(s), mark FOR ALL EXCEPT and fill in the circle next to each nominee you wish to withhold, as shown here: NOMINEES: THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS A VOTE FOR THE ELECTION OF EACH OF THE DIRECTORS AND FOR PROPOSAL 2. PLEASE SIGN, DATE AND RETURN PROMPTLY IN THE ENCLOSED ENVELOPE. PLEASE MARK YOUR VOTE IN BLUE OR BLACK INK AS SHOWN HERE x Please detach along perforated line and mail in the envelope provided. 20330000000000000000 9 072211 |
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DANAOS CORPORATION THIS PROXY IS BEING SOLICITED ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Proxy card for use at the 2011 Annual General Meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof (the "Meeting") of Stockholders of Danaos Corporation, a Marshall Islands company (the "Company"), to be held on Friday, July 22, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. Greek local time, at the offices of the Company's manager, Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli in Piraeus, Greece 185 45. The person signing on the reverse of this card, being a holder of shares of common stock of the Company, hereby appoints as his/her/its proxy at the Meeting, Dr. John Coustas and Evangelos Chatzis, or either one of them acting alone, with full power of substitution, and directs such proxy to vote (or abstain from voting) at the Meeting all of his, her or its shares of common stock as indicated on the reverse of this card or, to the extent that no such indication is given, to vote as set forth herein, and authorizes such proxy to vote in his discretion on such other business as may properly come before the Meeting. Please indicate on the reverse of this card how the shares of common stock represented by this proxy are to be voted. If this card is returned duly signed but without any indication as to how the shares of common stock are to be voted in respect of any of the resolutions described on the reverse, the stockholder will be deemed to have directed the proxy to vote FOR the election of all nominees to the Board of Directors and FOR Proposal Two, each as described below. (Continued and to be signed on the reverse side) 1 14475 COMMENTS: |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Exhibit 99.3


MISSION STATEMENT
Danaos Corpotation seeks to remain the premier choice of global seaborne container transportation for our clients by utilizing our solid operational, technical and financial infrastructure.
Danaos will continue to provide outstanding customer service, enforce rigorous operational standards, maintain a steadfast commitment to safety and enviromental protection, and reward its shareholders.
Letter from the President & CEO

Dear Fellow Shareholder,
History will record 2010 as the biggest turnaround story of the container industry. The year started with an idle fleet of 12 percent, zero box rates, charter rates below operating costs and by the end of July idle fleet dropped to 3 percent, box rates reached all time highs and charter rates approached 10 year averages. No one anticipated this development and liner companies booked record profits in the year.
This optimistic environment together with the cooperation of our partners enabled us to proceed successfully with new funding for our fleet under construction and also to arrange a comprehensive financing plan which addresses in a very solid way all the financing needs of the next eight years.
FLEET DEVELOPMENT
During the course of 2009 we had agreed a number of delivery postponements with our charterers so during the year we had an increasing number of deliveries which will peak in 2011. As of mid April 2011, we have 54 vessels in our fleet with 11 more to be delivered until mid 2012. As the employment of large vessels is a priority for our charterers we have pressure for earlier rather than later delivery of our order book.
The strength of the market enabled us to employ spot vessels for periods between one to three years at rates better than expiry. The market continues to be strong and we will continue to employ profitably all our fleet.
CREDIT MARKET STATUS
We have seen in 2010 a gradual reemergence of the banks in ship finance. However the terms, volumes and availability of ship finance from the banking group was significantly lower. It is rather improbable that we will reach again the volumes pre 2008. Finance from State Agencies has emerged as an important element of newbuildings and we will continue to develop our relationship with KEXIM, CEXIM and SINOSURE for the eventual finance of new projects.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
The 2010 results incorporate significant one off items related to the refinancing plan which was agreed with our lenders and shipyards. Excluding unrealized losses and one off items we had a $ 27.9 million profit.
In August 2010, we also successfully completed a $200 million equity offering which supplemented the loans from our lenders to complete our funding needs.
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OUTLOOK FOR 2011
The Company now that all financing issues have been addressed is rapidly growing by adding in the fleet the remaining contracted vessels.
Now that the container industry is back on track and the orderbook remains within acceptable limits, there are opportunities for growth. We are carefully evaluating various projects to determine which ones are accretive to our shareholders.
We expect that the charter market will be strong and expect to recharter the vessels which become open at rates near or above 10 year averages.
The competition in the sector has been reduced due to the contraction of the KG market. This will create a tighter market with returns which are healthy and will further restrain overcapacity.
During this year the faith that all our partners have shown on the management team has rewarded everyone by overcoming the strains of the crisis.
We will continue to work relentlessly to implement our growth strategy and reward our shareholders.
Respectfully submitted,
|
/s/ Dr. John Coustas |
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|
Dr. John Coustas |
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|
President & CEO |
|
Letter from the Senior Vice President & COO

The recovery of the market in the container sector was remarkable in the year 2010.
The joint efforts of the Liner Companies, the Independent Owners and the Shipbuilding Yards were successful and in effect the excess capacity was controlled. The result was that the profit and loss account of the Liner Companies turned from deep red in 2009 to black in 2010. The freight rates per TEU and FEU recovered and cautious optimism was evident among all stakeholders in the container sector.
We, the management of Danaos, completed our Comprehensive Financial Plan successfully and with a clear mind, together with our R&D department, delved deeply into modern container designs that will govern future orders. We believe that slow and superslow steaming is here to stay and the new speeds dominating the industry will be in the range of 18 to 22 knots versus the 22 to 24 knots in the past.
Better optimized hull forms, improved engineering systems and compliance with the forthcoming emission regulation will dominate the design of the containers of the future.
Our company was engaged in two R&D projects together with certain shipyards and Classification Societies and we feel that we now have the necessary know-how to serve the needs of our customers in the future and deliver container vessels that may save up to 15% less fuel at a given speed.
The number of our fleet vessels increased from 42 at the end of 2009 to 50 at the end of 2010 and the corresponding capacity from 172,433 TEU to 219,929 TEU. The average age of our fleet was reduced from 11.9 years in 2009 to 10.7 years in 2010. Our total utilization of fleet on-hire was at the level of 98% corresponding to just 1.9 unscheduled off-hire days per vessel for 2010.
We had an average of 3.04 Port State Control inspections per vessel, per year with only 0.71 defects per inspection and zero detentions, which is well below the industry average, being 3.5 defects per inspection.
On the social side, this year our Ship Manager was once again active in the mini soccer scene and succeeded to secure 2nd place in the Greek Shipping Industry Mini Soccer League. With the initiative of its HR&T department, our Managers employees participated in a fundraiser, which together with the support of our company, offered food, toys and psychological support to two foundations of abandoned children in Athens and Piraeus. Furthermore, having a strong sense of environmental awareness, Danaos teamed up with
its Manager and HELMEPA (Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association) and organized a Coastal Cleanup Day where employees brought their family and friends to participate in the event by cleaning the Athens coastline.

Danaos Mini Soccer Team

Danaoss youth learning the value
of environmental awareness
We at Danaos are committed to our prime strategic objective, which is to provide an excellent service to our customers by maintaining the very high standards set for our safe and environmentally friendly operating practices.
|
/s/ Iraklis Prokopakis |
|
|
Iraklis Prokopakis |
|
|
Senior Vice President & COO |
|

Danaos & Helmepa representatives
on Coastal Cleanup Day

In-house Crew Seminar on Charter Party Clauses
in Odessa
Letter from the Vice President & CFO

Once again, throughout 2010, our objective remained firm to provide best in class practice in all aspects of our operations. In addition, 2010 was a defining year of resolve and determination toward addressing the capital needs of Danaos and in particular the funding of our capital commitments to the yards for our extensive shipbuilding program.
The beginning of 2010 found us with a fleet of 42 containerships, four more since the beginning of 2009 and 27 large ships on order. As the containership market at the time was still struggling to regain a balance between supply and demand, the banking sector was still under considerable strain with most balance sheets and lending portfolios retrenching. Under these conditions and with a substantial funding gap due to credit shortage, we continued funding our investments in new ships by using own generated capital and by drawing from committed credit facilities already in place from previous periods. Such investments, excluding capitalized interest and pre-delivery expenses for the first half of 2010 reached $258 million and $291 million for the second half of 2010. In the first half of 2010, at the request of our charterers, we also revised scheduled ship delivery dates and associated yard payments for certain of our new buildings in a sector which had just recorded its worst year ever with 12% of the world containership fleet in idle mode. The fast improving 2010 however provided a favourable canvas to resolving the funding of Danaos and will serve as an exceptional example of the resilience of world trade.
Our efforts to secure the capital expenditure funding requirements paid off when in August 2010 our structured approach to these funding challenges led to a comprehensive financing agreement with our lenders for a further $425 million of asset backed credit facilities, as well as a new $203 million facility led by the Export Import Bank of China and Sinosure as the export credit insurance agency, a further $190 million of vendor financing and $200 million of additional equity in cash, which we successfully raised on August 12, 2010 through a private placement with several investors, including our largest stockholder, by selling to them 54,054,055 shares of our Common Stock. In addition we managed to reset earlier repayment schedules, punitive interest rate margin levels and covenant ratios, providing a competitive and solid financing package eliminating any re-financing requirements until end of 2018. The agreement has now overridden the older loan agreements and has addressed all covenant breaches that have occurred during the lows of this economic cycle. Danaos will also be enjoying a grace period on most of its loan repayments until the completion of our investment program. Progressive amortization will kick in form 2013 onwards by which a substantial portion of our cash will be used to aggressively repay outstanding indebtedness.
As part of the overall bank agreement we also issued 15 million warrants to the lenders which were parties to it, to purchase our common stock. The warrants, which will expire in January 2019, have an exercise price of $7.00 per share. The warrants may only be exercised on a net cashless basis,
which reduces the dilutive effects to our common stock of 108 million shares.
In the above context, the overall investment program of Danaos retained all the ordered large size containerships but three, which were cancelled early in 2010 resulting in an impairment loss of $71.5 million. The comprehensive financing plan, which was in principle agreed in the second half of 2010 and formally concluded during the first quarter of 2011, underlines the continued support of our lenders and the shipyards to Danaos.
As of April 15, 2011, we had 54 large size containerships, and were expecting delivery of another 6 new buildings by the end of 2011 and a further 5 in 2012. At the end of the first quarter of 2011 the total contract value of our remaining newbuilding program was $1.8 billion, against which we had already paid in advanced payments and work in progress an amount of $820 million, while $1.0 billion of additional payments will be made between April 2011 and June 2012, when all remaining ships on order are expected to be delivered to us.
Our long followed strategy to charter our vessels under multi-year charters with major liner companies, allowed Danaos to maintain a healthy revenue stream with positive financial results for 2010. We reported revenues of $360 million and net income adjusted for unrealised losses on derivatives and other one time items of $27.9 million for the year. On the same basis of adjustment our EBITDA increased by 20% yoy to reach $244 million. Our charter cover remains robust, which allows us to continue enjoying contracted revenues of approximately $6 billion immunizing to a considerable extent the effects on our financial statements of an otherwise inherently volatile market.
Throughout 2010, we added 9 new vessels to our fleet. All of them were deployed under long term charters, which in aggregate contributed $49 million of revenue during the first less than of one full year of operations. At the same time the daily operating expenses per ship decreased by 8% edging closer to $5,850 attributed to a combination of tight operations management and slow steaming requested by our charterers which results in reduction in certain speed related consumables onboard.
As in every years letter, I wish to stress that at Danaos Corporation we have a strong commitment to the integrity of our financial reporting which is constantly under review by our internal auditing department and our independent auditors. To this effect, I am pleased to report that Danaos Corporation had effective internal financial controls over financial reporting at December 31, 2010.
Finally, I would like to thank both our finance team and our Audit Committee for the dedication they have once more demonstrated throughout 2010, which significantly contributes to further improving our already rigid approach regarding financial reporting. Their hard work supports Danaos goal to excel in all areas and remain one of the preferred tonnage providers to our valued customers around the world.
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/s/ Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis |
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Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis |
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Vice President & CFO |
|
Financial Highlights
|
(Dollars in thousands except for share and per share data) |
|
2005 |
|
2006 |
|
2007 |
|
2008 |
|
2009 |
|
2010 |
| ||||||
|
Revenues |
|
$ |
175.886 |
|
$ |
205.177 |
|
$ |
258.845 |
|
$ |
298.905 |
|
$ |
319.511 |
|
$ |
359.677 |
|
|
Operating Expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||
|
Voyage expenses |
|
3.883 |
|
5.423 |
|
7.498 |
|
7.476 |
|
7.346 |
|
7.928 |
| ||||||
|
Vessel operating expenses |
|
45.741 |
|
52.991 |
|
65.676 |
|
89.246 |
|
92.327 |
|
88.271 |
| ||||||
|
General and administrative expenses |
|
3.914 |
|
6.413 |
|
9.955 |
|
11.617 |
|
14.541 |
|
23.255 |
| ||||||
|
Depreciation and amortization |
|
25.578 |
|
31.431 |
|
46.735 |
|
58.326 |
|
69.201 |
|
84.471 |
| ||||||
|
Other items* |
|
36 |
|
145 |
|
287 |
|
(16.720 |
) |
0 |
|
69.593 |
| ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||
|
Income from operations |
|
96.734 |
|
108.774 |
|
128.694 |
|
148.960 |
|
136.096 |
|
86.159 |
| ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||
|
Net Income from continuing operations |
|
79.489 |
|
65.419 |
|
123.098 |
|
117.060 |
|
36.089 |
|
(102.341 |
) | ||||||
|
Net Income |
|
122.850 |
|
101.082 |
|
215.264 |
|
115.238 |
|
36.089 |
|
(102.341 |
) | ||||||
|
Earnings per share |
|
$ |
2,77 |
|
$ |
2,16 |
|
$ |
3,95 |
|
$ |
2,11 |
|
$ |
0,66 |
|
$ |
(1,36 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||
|
Adjusted Net Income from continuing operations** |
|
81.526 |
|
85.960 |
|
108.574 |
|
99.404 |
|
65.586 |
|
27.857 |
| ||||||
|
Adjusted Net Income** |
|
124.887 |
|
105.150 |
|
112.105 |
|
99.101 |
|
65.586 |
|
27.857 |
| ||||||
|
Adjusted Earnings per share** |
|
$ |
2,82 |
|
$ |
2,25 |
|
$ |
2,05 |
|
$ |
1,82 |
|
$ |
1,20 |
|
$ |
0,37 |
|
|
Weighted Average Number of Shares (thousands) |
|
44.308 |
|
46.751 |
|
54.558 |
|
54.557 |
|
54.550 |
|
75.436 |
| ||||||
*Other items include impairment loss for the cancellation of three newbuildings in 2010.
**Adjusted net income from continuing operations, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share are non-GAAP measures, adjusted for on-cash changes in fair value of derivatives, impairment loss, gain/(loss) on sale of vessels and other one-off items.
Board of Directors

Dr. John Coustas is our President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors. Dr. Coustas has over 25 years of experience in the shipping industry. Dr. Coustas assumed management of our company in 1987 from his father, Dimitris Coustas, who founded Danaos Shipping in 1972, and has been responsible for our corporate strategy and the management of our affairs since that time. Dr. Coustas is also a member of the board of directors of Danaos Management Consultants, the Union of Greek Shipowners and the Cyprus Union of Shipowners, Vice Chairman of The Swedish Club, as well as Chairman of the board of directors of HELMEPA. Dr. Coustas holds a degree in Marine Engineering from National Technical University of Athens as well as a Masters degree in Computer Science and a PhD in Computer Controls from Imperial College, London.

Iraklis Prokopakis is our Senior Vice President, Treasurer, Chief Operating Officer and a member of our board of directors. Mr. Prokopakis joined us in 1998 and has over 30 years of experience in the shipping industry. Prior to entering the shipping industry, Mr. Prokopakis was a captain in the Hellenic Navy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Portsmouth University in the United Kingdom, a Masters degree in Naval Architecture and a Ship Risk Management Diploma from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and a post-graduate diploma in business studies from the London School of Economics. Mr. Prokopakis also has a Certificate in Operational Audit of Banks from the Management Center Europe in Brussels and a Safety Risk Management Certificate from Det Norske Veritas. He is a member of the Greek Shipowners Committee, the Korean Register of Shipping and Germanischer Lloyd..

Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis is our Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and a member of our board of directors. Mr. Andritsoyiannis joined us in September 2005 and has over 15 years of experience in finance and banking. Prior to joining us, Mr. Andritsoyiannis served as director of investment banking and as a member of the board of Alpha Finance, the investment banking arm of Greeces Alpha Bank. During his years with Alpha Finance from the early 1990s until joining us, Mr. Andritsoyiannis led a variety of financings, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, privatizations and public offerings both in Greece and abroad. Mr. Andritsoyiannis holds a degree in Economics and Political Science from the Economic University of Athens, an MBA in finance from Columbia University, as well as a post-graduate diploma in Ship Risk Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Myles R. Itkin has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Mr. Itkin is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG), in which capacities he has served, with the exception of a promotion from Senior Vice President to Executive Vice President in 2006, since 1995. Prior to joining OSG in June 1995, Mr. Itkin was employed by Alliance Capital Management L.P. as Senior Vice President of Finance. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Finance at Northwest Airlines, Inc. Mr. Itkin joined the board of directors of the U.K. P&I Club in 2006. Mr. Itkin holds a Bachelors degree from Cornell University and an MBA from New York University.

Andrew B. Fogarty has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Mr. Fogarty has over 16 years of experience in the transportation industry. After a career in government, including as Secretary of Transportation for the Commonwealth of Virginia, since 1989 Mr. Fogarty has held various executive positions with CSX Corporation or its predecessors, including as Senior Vice President-Corporate Services of CSX Corporation from 2001 to 2005, and his current position as Special Assistant to the Chairman of CSX since early 2006. Previously, Mr. Fogarty also held the positions of President & CEO of CSX World Terminals, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sea-Land Service, Inc. CSX is one of the worlds leading transportation companies providing rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services. Mr. Fogarty is the former chairman and current member of the board of directors of the National Defense Transportation Association and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Hofstra University, a Masters of Public Administration from the Nelson A. Rockefeller college of Public Affairs & Policy at the State University of New York, and a Ph.D. from Florida State University.

Miklós Konkoly Thege has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Mr. Konkoly Thege began at Det Norske Veritas (DNV), a ship classification society, in 1984. From 1984 through 2002, Mr. Konkoly Thege served in various capacities with DNV including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Controller, Head of Corporate Management Staff and Head of Business Areas. Mr. Konkoly Thege became President and Chairman of the Executive Board of DNV in 2002 and served in that capacity until his retirement in May 2006. Mr. Konkoly Thege is a member of the board of directors of Wilhelmsen Maritime Services Holdings AS. Mr. Konkoly-Thege holds a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from Technische Universitat Hannover, Germany and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Robert A. Mundell has been a member of our board of directors since October 2006. Dr. Mundell is the University Professor of Economics at Columbia University. Dr. Mundells principal occupation since 1967 has been a member of the faculty of Columbia University. Dr. Mundell has served as a member of the board of directors of Olympus Corporation since 2005. Since 2003, Dr. Mundell has also served as Chairman of the Word Executive Institute in Beijing, China. He has been an adviser to a number of international agencies and organizations including the United Nations, the IMF, the World Bank, the Government of Canada, several governments in Latin America and Europe, the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Treasury. In 1999 Dr. Mundell received the Nobel Prize in Economics. Dr. Mundell holds a Bachelors degree from the University of British Columbia, a Masters degree from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

George Economou has over 30 years of experience in the maritime industry and he has served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dryships Inc. since its incorporation in 2004. He successfully took the Company public in February 2005, on NASDAQ under the trading symbol: DRYS. Mr. Economou has overseen the Companys growth into the largest US listed dry bulk company in fleet size and revenue and the second largest Panamax owner in the world. Between 1986 and 1991 he invested and participated in the formation of numerous individual shipping companies and in 1991 he founded Cardiff Marine Inc. Mr. Economou is a member of ABS Council, Intertanko Hellenic Shipping Forum and Lloyds Register Hellenic Advisory Committee. Mr. Economou is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and a Master of Science in Shipping and Shipbuilding Management.
Stockholder Return Performance Presentation
Set forth below is a line graph for the period from our listing date until April 12, 2011 comparing the yearly percentage change in the cumulative total stockholder return on the Companys common stock against the cumulative return of the published DJUSMT Index and the S&P 500.

*Assumes that the value of the investment in the Companys common stock and
each index was $100 on October 6, 2006 and that all dividends were reinvested.
Shareholder Information
MAILING ADDRESS
Danaos Corporation
c/o Danaos Shipping Co.Ltd
14, Akti Kondyli
Piraeus
Athens, 185 45
Greece
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COMPANY CONTACT |
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DIMITRI J. ANDRITSOYIANNIS |
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IRAXLIS PROKOPAKIS |
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Athens, Greece |
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Athens, Greece |
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Tel.: +30 210 419 6481 |
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Tel.: +30 210 419 6480 |
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E-Mail: cfo@danaos.com |
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E-Mail: coo@danaos.com |
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INVESTOR RELATIONS |
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U.S. LEGAL COUNCEL |
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NICOLAS BORNOZIS |
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Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P. |
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President |
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101 Park Avenue, New York |
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Capital Link, Inc. New York |
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N. Y. 10178 |
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Tel.: +1 212 661 7566 |
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Tel.: +1 212 309 6000 |
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E-Mail: nbornozis@capitallink.com |
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS |
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TRANSFER AGENT |
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PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A. |
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American Stock Transfer & Trust Company |
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268, Kifissias Avenue |
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6201 15th Avenue |
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Athens, 152 32 |
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Brooklyn |
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Greece |
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N.Y. 11219 |
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Tel.: +30 210 687 4000 |
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Tel.: +1 718 921 8200 |
Since our initial public offering in the United States in October 2006, our common stock has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DAC. As of December 31, 2010, there were 108,610,921 shares of the registrants common stock outstanding.
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM 20-F
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REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR 12(g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
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OR |
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ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2010 |
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OR |
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TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
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For the transition period from to |
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OR |
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SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
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Date of event requiring this shell company report
Commission file number 001-33060
| DANAOS CORPORATION (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter) |
Not Applicable (Translation of Registrant's name into English) |
Republic of The Marshall Islands (Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd 14 Akti Kondyli 185 45 Piraeus Greece (Address of principal executive offices) |
Dimitri J. Andritsoyiannis c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd 14 Akti Kondyli 185 45 Piraeus Greece Telephone: +30 210 419 6480 Facsimile: +30 210 419 6489 (Name, Address, Telephone Number and Facsimile Number of Company Contact Person) |
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Name of each exchange on which registered | |
|---|---|---|
| Common stock, $0.01 par value per share | New York Stock Exchange | |
| Preferred stock purchase rights | New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None.
Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:
None.
As of December 31, 2010, there were 108,610,921 shares of the registrant's common stock outstanding.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.
Yes o No ý
If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Yes o No ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Yes ý No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).
Yes o No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of "accelerated filer and large accelerated filer" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
| o Large accelerated filer | o Accelerated filer | ý Non-accelerated filer |
Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:
| ý U.S. GAAP | o International Financial Reporting Standards | o Other |
If "Other" has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.
o Item 17 o Item 18
If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
Yes o No ý
This annual report contains forward-looking statements based on beliefs of our management. Any statements contained in this annual report that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events, including:
The words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "potential," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," and "should" and similar expressions as they relate to us are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. We may also from time to time make forward-looking statements in our periodic reports that we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") other information sent to our security holders, and other written materials. Such statements reflect our current views and assumptions and all forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect our future financial results are discussed more fully in "Item 3. Key InformationRisk Factors" and in our other filings with the SEC. We caution readers of this annual report not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
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Danaos Corporation is a corporation domesticated in the Republic of The Marshall Islands that is referred to in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, together with its subsidiaries, as "Danaos Corporation," "the Company," "we," "us," or "our." This report should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto, which are included in Item 18 to this annual report.
We use the term "Panamax" to refer to vessels capable of transiting the Panama Canal and "Post-Panamax" to refer to vessels with a beam of more than 32.31 meters that cannot transit the Panama Canal. We use the term "twenty foot equivalent unit," or "TEU," the international standard measure of containers, in describing the capacity of our containerships. Unless otherwise indicated, all references to currency amounts in this annual report are in U.S. dollars.
Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers
Not Applicable.
Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable
Not Applicable.
Selected Financial Data
The following table presents selected consolidated financial and other data of Danaos Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries for each of the five years in the five year period ended December 31, 2010, reflecting the discontinued operations of the drybulk carriers owned by subsidiaries of Danaos Corporation between 2006 and 2007 as discontinued operations. The table should be read together with "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects." The selected consolidated financial data of Danaos Corporation is derived from our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or "U.S. GAAP", and have been audited for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 by PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A., an independent registered public accounting firm.
Our audited consolidated statements of income, stockholders' equity and cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008, and the consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2010
and 2009, together with the notes thereto, are included in "Item 18. Financial Statements" and should be read in their entirety.
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Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||
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2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | |||||||||||||
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In thousands, except per share amounts |
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STATEMENT OF INCOME |
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Operating revenues |
$ | 359,677 | $ | 319,511 | $ | 298,905 | $ | 258,845 | $ | 205,177 | ||||||||
Voyage expenses |
(7,928 | ) | (7,346 | ) | (7,476 | ) | (7,498 | ) | (5,423 | ) | ||||||||
Vessel operating expenses |
(88,271 | ) | (92,327 | ) | (89,246 | ) | (65,676 | ) | (52,991 | ) | ||||||||
Depreciation |
(77,045 | ) | (60,906 | ) | (51,025 | ) | (40,622 | ) | (27,304 | ) | ||||||||
Amortization of deferred drydocking and special survey costs |
(7,426 | ) | (8,295 | ) | (7,301 | ) | (6,113 | ) | (4,127 | ) | ||||||||
Impairment loss |
(71,509 | ) | | | | | ||||||||||||
Bad debt expense |
| | (181 | ) | (1 | ) | (145 | ) | ||||||||||
General and administrative expenses |
(23,255 | ) | (14,541 | ) | (11,617 | ) | (9,955 | ) | (6,413 | ) | ||||||||
Gain/(loss) on sale of vessels |
1,916 | | 16,901 | (286 | ) | | ||||||||||||
Income from operations |
86,159 | 136,096 | 148,960 | 128,694 | 108,774 | |||||||||||||
Interest income |
964 | 2,428 | 6,544 | 4,861 | 3,605 | |||||||||||||
Interest expense |
(41,158 | ) | (36,208 | ) | (34,740 | ) | (22,421 | ) | (23,905 | ) | ||||||||
Other finance (expenses)/income, net |
(6,055 | ) | (2,290 | ) | (2,047 | ) | (2,779 | ) | 2,049 | |||||||||
Other (expenses)/income, net |
(5,070 | ) | (336 | ) | (1,060 | ) | 14,560 | (18,476 | ) | |||||||||
(Loss)/gain on fair value of derivatives |
(137,181 | ) | (63,601 | ) | (597 | ) | 183 | (6,628 | ) | |||||||||
Total other expenses, net |
(188,500 | ) | (100,007 | ) | (31,900 | ) | (5,596 | ) | (43,355 | ) | ||||||||
Net (loss)/income from continuing operations |
$ | (102,341 | ) | $ | 36,089 | $ | 117,060 | $ | 123,098 | $ | 65,419 | |||||||
Net (loss)/income from discontinued operations |
$ | | $ | | $ | (1,822 | ) | $ | 92,166 | $ | 35,663 | |||||||
Net (loss)/income |
$ | (102,341 | ) | $ | 36,089 | $ | 115,238 | $ | 215,264 | $ | 101,082 | |||||||
PER SHARE DATA(i)(ii) |
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Basic and diluted net (loss)/ income per share of common stock from continuing operations |
$ | (1.36 | ) | $ | 0.66 | $ | 2.15 | $ | 2.26 | $ | 1.40 | |||||||
Basic and diluted net (loss)/income per share of common stock from discontinued operations |
$ | | $ | | $ | (0.04 | ) | $ | 1.69 | $ | 0.76 | |||||||
Basic and diluted net income per share of common stock |
$ | (1.36 | ) | $ | 0.66 | $ | 2.11 | $ | 3.95 | $ | 2.16 | |||||||
Basic and diluted weighted average number of shares |
75,436 | 54,550 | 54,557 | 54,558 | 46,751 | |||||||||||||
CASH FLOW DATA |
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Net cash provided by operating activities |
$ | 78,792 | $ | 93,166 | $ | 135,489 | $ | 158,270 | $ | 151,578 | ||||||||
Net cash used in investing activities |
(587,748 | ) | (372,909 | ) | (511,986 | ) | (687,592 | ) | (330,099 | ) | ||||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
616,741 | 281,073 | 433,722 | 549,742 | 183,596 | |||||||||||||
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
107,785 | 1,330 | 57,225 | 20,420 | 5,075 | |||||||||||||
BALANCE SHEET DATA (at period end) |
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Total current assets |
$ | 266,830 | $ | 300,504 | $ | 250,194 | $ | 92,038 | $ | 59,700 | ||||||||
Total assets |
3,489,130 | 3,142,711 | 2,828,464 | 2,071,791 | 1,297,190 | |||||||||||||
Total current liabilities, including current portion of long term debt |
246,497 | 2,518,007 | 122,215 | 51,113 | 45,714 | |||||||||||||
Current portion of long-term debt |
21,619 | 2,331,678 | 42,219 | 25,619 | 22,760 | |||||||||||||
Long-term debt, net of current portion |
2,543,907 | | 2,054,635 | 1,330,927 | 639,556 | |||||||||||||
Total stockholders' equity |
392,412 | 405,591 | 219,034 | 624,904 | 565,852 | |||||||||||||
Common stock(i)(ii) |
108,611 | 54,551 | 54,543 | 54,558 | 54,558 | |||||||||||||
Share capital(i) |
1,086 | 546 | 546 | 546 | 546 | |||||||||||||
2
As a privately held company, we paid aggregate dividends of $244.6 million in 2005. We paid no dividends in 2006. We paid our first quarterly dividend since becoming a public company in October 2006, of $0.44 per share, on February 14, 2007, and subsequent dividends of $0.44 per share, $0.44 per share, $0.465 per share and $0.465 per share on May 18, 2007, August 17, 2007, November 16, 2007 and February 14, 2008. In addition, we paid a dividend of $0.465 per share on May 14, 2008, August 20, 2008 and November 19, 2008, respectively. In the first quarter of 2009, our board of directors decided to suspend the payment of further cash dividends as a result of market conditions in the international shipping industry. Our payment of dividends is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors. Our loan agreements and the provisions of Marshall Islands law also contain restrictions that affect our ability to pay dividends and we generally will not be permitted to pay cash dividends under the terms of the bank agreement ("Bank Agreement") and new financing agreements for which we have entered into definitive agreements in 2011. See "Item 3. Key InformationRisk FactorsRisks Inherent in Our BusinessWe are generally not permitted to pay cash dividends under our financing arrangements." See "Item 8. Financial InformationDividend Policy."
Capitalization and Indebtedness
Not Applicable.
Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds
Not Applicable.
Risk Factors
Risks Inherent in Our Business
Our business, and an investment in our securities, involves a high degree of risk, including risks relating to the downturn in the container shipping market, which continues to adversely affect the major liner companies which charter our vessels and has had and may continue to have an adverse effect on our earnings and affect our compliance with our loan covenants and could result in us having to restructure our obligations.
The abrupt and dramatic downturn in the containership market, from which we derive all of our revenues, has severely affected the container shipping industry, particularly the large liner companies to which we charter our vessels, and has adversely affected our business. The average daily charter rate of a 4,400 TEU containership, which represents the approximate average TEU capacity of our vessels, decreased from $36,000 in May 2008 to $26,000 in January 2011, after reaching a low of $6,400 in December 2009. The decline in charter rates is due to various factors, including the reduced availability of trade financing for purchases of containerized cargo carried by sea, which resulted in a significant decline in the volume of cargo shipments, and the level of global trade, including exports from China to Europe and the United States. The decline in the containership market has affected the major liner companies which charter our vessels, some of which have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations. It also affects the value of our vessels, which follow the trends of freight rates and containership charter rates, and the earnings on our charters, and similarly, affects our cash flows and liquidity. Before the covenant levels in our financing arrangements were reset at levels at which we are now in compliance in the first quarter of 2011, we had to obtain waivers from the lenders under all but one of our credit facilities because we had not been in compliance with the covenants contained in our loan agreements. The decline in the containership charter market has had and may continue to have additional adverse consequences for our industry including limited financing for vessel acquisitions and newbuildings, a less active secondhand market for the sale of vessels, charterers not performing under, or requesting modifications of, existing time charters and widespread loan covenant defaults in the container shipping industry. This significant downturn in the container
3
shipping industry could adversely affect our ability to service our debt and other obligations and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
The current low containership charter rates and containership vessel values and any future declines in these rates and values will affect our ability to comply with various covenants in our credit facilities.
Our credit facilities, which are secured by mortgages on our vessels, require us to maintain specified collateral coverage ratios and satisfy financial covenants, including requirements based on the market value of our containerships and our net worth. The market value of containerships is sensitive to, among other things, changes in the charter markets with vessel values deteriorating in times when charter rates are falling and improving when charter rates are anticipated to rise. The depressed state of the containership charter market coupled with the prevailing difficulty in obtaining financing for vessel purchases has adversely affected containership values since the middle of 2008. These conditions have led to a significant decline in the fair market values of our vessels and the extremely low prevailing interest rates have led to significant declines in the fair value of our interest rate swap agreements. As a result, we had to obtain waivers of breaches of covenants in certain of our loan agreements. Under the Bank Agreement we entered into in the first quarter of 2011 for the restructuring of our existing credit facilities and new credit facilities, the financial covenants in our financing arrangements were reset to levels, with which we currently comply, that gradually tighten over the period through the maturity of these financing arrangements in 2018.
If we are unable to comply with the financial and other covenants under our other credit facilities, our lenders could accelerate our indebtedness and foreclose on the vessels in our fleet, which would impair our ability to continue to conduct our business. Any such acceleration, because of the cross-default provisions in our loan agreements, could in turn lead to additional defaults under our other loan agreements and the consequent acceleration of the indebtedness thereunder and the commencement of similar foreclosure proceedings by our other lenders. If our indebtedness were accelerated in full or in part, it would be very difficult in the current financing environment for us to refinance our debt or obtain additional financing and we could lose our vessels if our lenders foreclose upon their liens, which would adversely affect our ability to continue our business.
We are dependent on the ability and willingness of our charterers to honor their commitments to us for all of our revenues and the failure of our counterparties to meet their obligations under our time charter agreements, or under our shipbuilding contracts, could cause us to suffer losses or otherwise adversely affect our business.
We derive all of our revenues from the payment of charter hire by our charterers. Our 52 containerships are currently employed under time charters with 14 liner companies, with 89% of our revenues in 2010 generated from six such companies. We have also arranged long-term time charters for each of our 13 contracted newbuilding containerships as of March 31, 2011. We could lose a charterer or the benefits of a time charter if:
A number of major liner companies, including some of our charterers, have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations and request charter modifications, as well as an
4
intention to reduce the number of vessels they charter-in, which circumstances may increase the likelihood of losing a charterer or the benefits of a time charter.
If we lose a time charter, we may be unable to re-deploy the related vessel on terms as favorable to us or at all. We would not receive any revenues from such a vessel while it remained unchartered, but we may be required to pay expenses necessary to maintain the vessel in proper operating condition, insure it and service any indebtedness secured by such vessel.
The time charters on which we deploy our containerships generally provide for charter rates that are significantly above current market rates. The ability and willingness of each of our counterparties to perform its obligations under their time charters with us will depend on a number of factors that are beyond our control and may include, among other things, general economic conditions, the condition of the container shipping industry, which has experienced severe declines since the second half of 2008, and the overall financial condition of the counterparty. Furthermore, the combination of a reduction in cash flow resulting from declines in world trade, a reduction in borrowing bases under credit facilities and the reduced availability of debt and equity financing may result in a significant reduction in the ability of our charterers to make charter payments to us, with a number of large liner companies announcing efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations. For example, Senator Lines, the charterer of one of our vessels defaulted on its charter due to its insolvency in the first quarter of 2009 and the replacement charter we were able to arrange was at a reduced rate. The likelihood of a charterer seeking to renegotiate or defaulting on its charter with us may be heightened to the extent such customers are not able to utilize the vessels under charter from us, and instead leave such chartered vessels idle, as was the case with certain of our vessels in 2010 and one vessel in the first quarter of 2011. Should a counterparty fail to honor its obligations under agreements with us, it may be difficult to secure substitute employment for such vessel, and any new charter arrangements we secure may be at lower rates given currently depressed situation in the charter market.
If our charterers fail to meet their obligations to us or attempt to renegotiate our charter agreements, as part of a court-led restructuring or otherwise, we could sustain significant losses which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as our ability to pay dividends, if any, in the future, and comply with the covenants in our credit facilities. In such an event, we could be unable to service our debt and other obligations and could ourselves have to restructure our obligations.
We depend upon a limited number of customers, some of which have acknowledged financial difficulties and announced efforts to restructure their obligations, for a large part of our revenues. The loss of these customers could adversely affect us.
Our customers in the containership sector consist of a limited number of liner operators. The percentage of our revenues derived from these customers has varied in past years. In the past several years, CMA CGM, HMM Korea and Yang Ming have represented substantial amounts of our revenue. In 2010, approximately 89% of our revenues from continuing operations were generated by six customers, China Shipping, CMA CGM, HMM Korea, Maersk, Yang Ming and ZIM, and in 2009 these six customers generated approximately 94% of our revenues from continuing operations. As of the date of this filing, we have charters for 4 of our existing vessels and none of our newbuildings with China Shipping, for 5 of our existing vessels and 5 of our newbuildings with CMA CGM, for 11 of our existing vessels and 5 of our newbuildings with HMM Korea, for 4 of our existing vessels and none of our newbuildings with Maersk, for 7 of our existing vessels and none of our newbuildings with Yang Ming and 6 of our existing vessels with ZIM. We expect that a limited number of liner companies may continue to generate a substantial portion of our revenues, some of which liner companies including CMA CGM and Zim publicly acknowledged the financial difficulties facing them, reported substantial losses in 2009 and announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations, including under charter contracts. Although many liner companies reported substantially improved
5
financial performances in 2010, if any of these liner operators cease doing business or do not fulfill their obligations under their charters for our vessels, due to the financial pressure on these liner companies from the significant decreases in demand for the seaborne transport of containerized cargo or otherwise, our results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. Further, if we encounter any difficulties in our relationships with these charterers, our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Although we have arranged charters for each of our 13 contracted newbuilding vessels, we are dependent on the ability and willingness of the charterers to honor their commitments under such charters as it would be difficult to redeploy such vessels at equivalent rates, or at all, if charter markets continue to experience weakness.
We are dependent on the ability and willingness of the charterers to honor their commitments under the multi-year time charters we have arranged for each of our 13 contracted newbuilding vessels as of March 31, 2011. Despite modest improvements in the containership market in 2010, the combination of a reduction of cash flow resulting from declines in world trade, a reduction in borrowing bases under credit facilities and the reduced availability of debt or equity financing may result in a significant reduction in the ability of our charterers to make charter payments to us. Furthermore, the surplus of containerships available at lower charter rates and lower demand for our customers' liner services could negatively affect our charterers' willingness to perform their obligations under the time charters for our newbuildings, which provide for charter rates significantly above current market rates. The decline in the containership market has affected the major liner companies which charter our vessels, some of which have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations. The combination of the current surplus of containership capacity, and the expected significant increase in the size of the world containership fleet over the next few years, as the high volume of containerships currently being constructed are delivered, would make it difficult to secure substitute employment for any of our newbuilding vessels if our counterparties failed to perform their obligations under the currently arranged time charters, and any new charter arrangements we were able to secure would be at lower rates given currently depressed charter rates. As a result of the foregoing, we could sustain significant losses which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as our ability to comply with the covenants in our credit facilities. If the charterers do not honor their commitments under these charters, we may have rights for certain claims, subject to the terms and conditions of each charter. However, pursuing these claims may be time consuming, uncertain and ultimately insufficient to compensate us for any failure of the charterers to honor their commitments.
Our profitability and growth depend on the demand for containerships and the recent economic slowdown, and the impact on consumer confidence and consumer spending, resulted in and may continue to result in a decrease in containerized shipping volume, adversely affect charter rates. Charter hire rates for containerships may continue to experience volatility or settle at depressed levels, which would, in turn, adversely affect our profitability.
Demand for our vessels depends on demand for the shipment of cargoes in containers and, in turn, containerships. The ocean-going container shipping industry is both cyclical and volatile in terms of charter hire rates and profitability. Containership charter rates peaked in 2005 and generally stayed strong until the middle of 2008, when the effects of the recent economic crisis began to affect global container trade and in 2008 and 2009, the ocean-going container shipping industry experienced severe declines, with charter rates at significantly lower levels than the historic highs of the prior few years. Despite some improvement in 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, rates remain well below long term averages, and that improvement may not be sustainable and rates could decline again. Variations in containership charter rates result from changes in the supply and demand for ship capacity and changes in the supply and demand for the major products transported by containerships. The factors affecting
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the supply and demand for containerships and supply and demand for products shipped in containers are outside of our control, and the nature, timing and degree of changes in industry conditions are unpredictable. The recent global economic slowdown and disruptions in the credit markets significantly reduced demand for products shipped in containers and, in turn, containership capacity.
Factors that influence demand for containership capacity include:
Factors that influence the supply of containership capacity include:
Consumer confidence and consumer spending have deteriorated significantly in 2008 and 2009, and have only recovered modestly. Consumer purchases of discretionary items, many of which are transported by sea in containers, generally decline during periods where disposable income is adversely affected or there is economic uncertainty and, as a result, liner company customers may ship fewer containers or may ship containers only at reduced rates. Any such decrease in shipping volume could adversely impact our liner company customers and, in turn, demand for containerships. As a result, charter rates and vessel values in the containership sector have decreased significantly and the counterparty risk associated with the charters for our vessels has increased.
Our ability to recharter our containerships upon the expiration or termination of their current charters and the charter rates payable under any renewal or replacement charters will depend upon, among other things, the prevailing state of the charter market for containerships. The charters for 10 of our existing vessels expire between April and December 2011. If the charter market is depressed, as it has been with only marginal improvement since the second half of 2008, when our vessels' charters expire, we may be forced to recharter the containerships, if we were able to recharter such vessels at all, at sharply reduced rates and possibly at a rate whereby we incur a loss. If we were unable to recharter our vessels on favorable terms, we may potentially scrap certain of such vessels, which may reduce our earnings or make our earnings volatile. The same issues will exist if we acquire additional containerships, if we are able to recharter such vessels at all, and attempt to obtain multi-year charter arrangements as part of an acquisition and financing plan.
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We may be unable to draw down the full amount of our credit facilities, pursuant to the terms of the Bank Agreement with respect to restructuring our credit facilities, and we may have difficulty obtaining other financing, particularly if the market values of our vessels further decline.
There are restrictions on the amount of cash that can be advanced to us under our credit facilities based on the market value of the vessel or vessels in respect of which the advance is being made, and other customary conditions to such advances. If the market value of our fleet, which has experienced substantial recent declines, declines further, we may not be able to draw down the full amount of certain of our credit facilities, pursuant to the terms of the Bank Agreement with respect to our credit facilities, obtain other financing or incur debt on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. We may also not be able to obtain additional financing and refinance our debt, particularly for our newbuilding vessels which have remaining installment payments well in excess of their current charter-free market value. Any inability for us to draw down the full amount of our credit facilities due to the market value of our vessels or otherwise could prevent us from completing the acquisition of our 13 newbuilding containerships and cause us to forfeit the deposit payments and other capitalized predelivery expenses we have made for such newbuildings, which totaled $0.8 billion as of March 31, 2011 and otherwise materially adversely effect our liquidity and financial condition.
The Bank Agreement in respect of our financing arrangements imposes stringent operating and financial restrictions on us which may, among other things, limit our ability to grow our business.
Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, our credit facilities and financing arrangements impose more stringent operating and financial restrictions on us than those previously contained in our credit facilities. These restrictions, as described in "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects," generally preclude us from:
As a result we will have reduced discretion in operating our business and may have difficulty growing our business beyond our currently contracted newbuilding vessels. In addition, our respective lenders under these financing arrangements will, at their option, be able to require us to repay in full amounts outstanding under such respective credit facilities, upon a "Change of Control" of our company, which for these purposes and as further described in "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and ProspectsBank Agreement", includes Dr. Coustas ceasing to be our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Coustas and members of his family ceasing to collectively own over one-third of the voting
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interest in our outstanding capital stock or any other person or group controlling more than 20% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.
The Bank Agreement and our financing arrangements contain financial covenants requiring us to:
The provisions of our KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facility, which is not covered by the Bank Agreement, have been aligned with the above covenants through June 30, 2012 under the supplemental letter signed on August 12, 2010 and our Sinosure-CEXIM credit facility has similar financial covenants and a collateral coverage covenant of 125% per tranche as described in "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects." In addition, under our KEXIM credit facility, we must comply with a collateral coverage covenant of 130%.
If we fail to meet our payment or covenant compliance obligations under the terms of the Bank Agreement covering our credit facilities or our other financing arrangements, our lenders could then accelerate our indebtedness and foreclose on the vessels in our fleet securing those credit facilities, which could result in cross-defaults under our other credit facilities, and the consequent acceleration of
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the indebtedness thereunder and the commencement of similar foreclosure proceedings by other lenders. The loss of any of these vessels would have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Substantial debt levels could limit our flexibility to obtain additional financing and pursue other business opportunities.
As of March 31, 2011, we had outstanding indebtedness of $2.6 billion and we expect to incur substantial additional indebtedness, including under our existing credit facilities, in aggregate principal amounts of $0.8 billion, as we finance the $1.0 billion aggregate remaining purchase price for our 13 newbuilding containerships and, as market conditions warrant over the medium to long-term, further grow our fleet. Although we are not scheduled to make repayments of principal until March 31, 2013 under our existing credit facilities, other than our KEXIM and KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facilities and Hyundai Vendor Financing, this level of debt could have important consequences to us, including the following:
Our ability to service our debt will depend upon, among other things, our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. Due to the restrictions on the use of cash from operations and other sources for purposes other than the repayment of indebtedness, even if we otherwise generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt, we may still be forced to take actions such as reducing or delaying our business activities, acquisitions, investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing our debt or seeking additional equity capital. We may not be able to effect any of these remedies on satisfactory terms, or at all. In addition, restrictions in the Bank Agreement in respect of our credit facilities and a lack of liquidity in the debt and equity markets could hinder our ability to refinance our debt or obtain additional financing on favorable terms in the future.
Disruptions in world financial markets and the resulting governmental action in the United States and in other parts of the world could have a further material adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, and could cause the market price of our common stock to decline further.
Although showing signs of recovery, the United States and other parts of the world have exhibited weak economic trends and were in a recession in 2008 and 2009. For example, the credit markets in the United States have experienced significant contraction, de-leveraging and reduced liquidity, and the United States federal government and state governments have implemented and are considering a broad variety of governmental action and/or new regulation of the financial markets. Securities and futures markets and the credit markets are subject to comprehensive statutes, regulations and other
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requirements. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, other regulators, self-regulatory organizations and securities exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of market emergencies, and may effect changes in law or interpretations of existing laws.
Global financial markets and economic conditions were severely disrupted and volatile in 2008 and 2009. Credit markets and the debt and equity capital markets have been exceedingly distressed. These issues, along with the re-pricing of credit risk and the difficulties being experienced by financial institutions have made, and will likely continue to make, it difficult to obtain financing. As a result of the disruptions in the credit markets, the cost of obtaining bank financing has increased as many lenders have increased interest rates, enacted tighter lending standards, required more restrictive terms, including higher collateral ratios for advances, shorter maturities and smaller loan amounts, refused to refinance existing debt at maturity at all or on terms similar to our current debt. Furthermore, certain banks that have historically been significant lenders to the shipping industry have announced an intention to reduce or cease lending activities in the shipping industry. Although we have not experienced any difficulties drawing on committed facilities to date, we may be unable to fully draw on the available capacity under our existing credit facilities in the future if our lenders are unwilling or unable to meet their funding obligations. We cannot be certain that financing will be available on acceptable terms or at all. If financing is not available when needed, or is available only on unfavorable terms, we may be unable to meet our obligations, including under our newbuilding contracts, as they come due. Our failure to obtain the funds for these capital expenditures would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In the absence of available financing, we also may be unable to take advantage of business opportunities or respond to competitive pressures, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations.
We face risks attendant to changes in economic environments, changes in interest rates, and instability in the banking and securities markets around the world, among other factors. Major market disruptions and the current adverse changes in market conditions and the regulatory climate in the United States and worldwide may adversely affect our business or impair our ability to borrow amounts under our credit facilities or any future financial arrangements. We cannot predict how long the current market conditions will last. However, these recent and developing economic and governmental factors, together with the concurrent decline in charter rates and vessel values, may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows, have caused the price of our common stock to decline and could cause the price of our common stock to decline further.
Weak economic conditions throughout the world, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, and including due to the recent European Union sovereign debt default fears, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Negative trends in the global economy emerged in 2008 and continued into 2009, and economic conditions remain relatively weak. In particular, recent concerns regarding the possibility of sovereign debt defaults by European Union member countries, including Greece and Portugal resulted in devaluation of the Euro, disruptions of financial markets throughout the world and have led to concerns regarding consumer demand both in Europe and other parts of the world, including the United States. The deterioration in the global economy has caused, and may continue to cause, a decrease in worldwide demand for certain goods and, thus, container shipping. Continuing economic instability could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In particular, we anticipate a significant number of the port calls made by our vessels will continue to involve the loading or unloading of containers in ports in the Asia Pacific region. As a result, negative changes in economic conditions in any Asia Pacific country, and particularly in China, may exacerbate the effect of the significant downturns in the economies of the United States and the European Union and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations, as well as our future prospects. In recent years, China has been one of the world's fastest growing
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economies in terms of gross domestic product, which has had a significant impact on shipping demand. China and other countries in the Asia Pacific region may, however, experience slowed or even negative economic growth in the future. Moreover, the current slowdown in the economies of the United States, the European Union and other Asian countries may further adversely affect economic growth in China and elsewhere. In particular, the possibility of sovereign debt defaults by European Union member countries, including Greece and Portugal, and any resulting weakness of the Euro, including against the Chinese renminbi, could adversely affect European consumer demand, particularly for goods imported, many of which are shipped in containerized form, from China and elsewhere in Asia, and reduce the availability of trade financing which is vital to the conduct of international shipping. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, ability to pay dividends, if any, as well as our future prospects, will likely be materially and adversely affected by a further economic downturn in any of these countries.
The earthquake and resulting tsunami and nuclear power plant crisis that struck Japan in March 2011 could, in the near term, reduce container volumes to and from areas of Japan, including Tokyo, which could result in reductions in prevailing charter rates.
The March 2011 earthquake in Japan and resulting tsunami have caused several nuclear power plants located in Japan to fail and emit radiation and possibly could result in meltdowns that could have catastrophic effects. Although the full effect of these disasters, both on the Japanese and global economies, is not currently known, a number of liner companies have restricted vessels from calling on ports in Tokyo and Northern Japan. In addition, authorities in other countries, including China and the U.S., have begun screening containerships that have visited Japan or nearby waters for nuclear radiation, causing delays and reduced attractiveness of any contaminated vessels for subsequent employment. These disasters will for some period of time result in reduced container volumes to and from Japan, which has the world's third largest economy, and could potentially result in reduced charter rates. In addition, there can be no assurances that our vessels trading in the Pacific will not be impacted by the possible effects of spreading radiation.
Demand for the seaborne transport of products in containers decreased dramatically in 2008 and 2009, placing significant financial pressure on liner companies and, in turn, decreasing demand for containerships and increasing our charter counterparty risk.
The sharp decline in global economic activity in 2008 and 2009 resulted in a substantial decline in the demand for the seaborne transportation of products in containers, reaching the lowest levels in decades. Consequently, the cargo volumes and freight rates achieved by liner companies, with which all of the existing and contracted newbuilding vessels in our fleet are chartered, have declined sharply, reducing liner company profitability and, at times, failing to cover the costs of liner companies operating vessels on their shipping lines. In response to such reduced cargo volume and freight rates, the number of vessels being actively deployed by liner companies decreased, with almost 12% of the world containership fleet estimated to be out of service at its high point as of December 2009, although the idle capacity of the global containership fleet had decreased to 2.3% of total fleet capacity as of the end of January 2011. Moreover, newbuilding containerships with an aggregate capacity of 0.39 million TEUs, representing approximately 28% of the world's fleet capacity as of January 2011, were under construction, which may exacerbate the surplus of containership capacity further reducing charterhire rates or increasing the number of unemployed vessels. Although liner companies generally reported improved financial performance in 2010, in 2009 a number of major liner companies, including some of our customers, announced plans to reduce the number of vessels they charter-in as part of efforts to reduce the size of their fleets to better align fleet capacity with the reduced demand for marine transportation of containerized cargo. In some instances, these liner companies have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations, including obligations under charter contracts.
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The reduced demand and resulting financial challenges faced by our liner company customers has significantly reduced demand for containerships and may increase the likelihood of one or more of our customers being unable or unwilling to pay us the contracted charterhire rates, which are generally significantly above prevailing charter rates, under the charters for our vessels. We generate all of our revenues from these charters and if our charterers fail to meet their obligations to us, we would sustain significant losses which could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations, as well as our ability to comply with covenants in our credit facilities.
An over-supply of containership capacity may prolong or further depress the current low charter rates and adversely affect our ability to recharter our containerships at profitable rates or at all and, in turn, reduce our profitability.
While the size of the containership order book has declined from historic highs since mid-2008, at the end of January 2011 newbuilding containerships with an aggregate capacity of 0.39 million TEUs, were under construction representing approximately 28% of existing global fleet capacity. The size of the orderbook is large relative to historic levels and, notwithstanding that some orders may be cancelled or delayed, will likely result in a significant increase in the size of the world containership fleet over the next few years. An over-supply of containership capacity, particularly in conjunction with the currently low level of demand for the seaborne transport of containers, could exacerbate the recent decrease in charter rates or prolong the period during which low charter rates prevail. We do not hedge against our exposure to changes in charter rates, due to increased supply of containerships or otherwise. As such, if the current low charter rate environment persists, or a further reduction occurs, during a period when the current charters for our containerships expire or are terminated, we may only be able to recharter those containerships at reduced or unprofitable rates or we may not be able to charter those vessels at all. The charters for 10 of our existing vessels expire between April 2011 and December 2011.
Our profitability and growth depends on our ability to expand relationships with existing charterers and to obtain new time charters, for which we will face substantial competition from established companies with significant resources as well as new entrants.
One of our objectives over the mid- to long-term is, when market conditions warrant, to acquire additional containerships in conjunction with entering into additional multi-year, fixed-rate time charters for these vessels. We employ our vessels in highly competitive markets that are capital intensive and highly fragmented, with a highly competitive process for obtaining new multi-year time charters that generally involves an intensive screening process and competitive bids, and often extends for several months. Generally, we compete for charters based on price, customer relationship, operating expertise, professional reputation and the size, age and condition of our vessels. In recent months, in light of the dramatic downturn in the containership charter market, other containership owners, including many of the KG-model shipping entities, have chartered their vessels to liner companies at extremely low rates, including at unprofitable levels, increasing the price pressure when competing to secure employment for our containerships. Container shipping charters are awarded based upon a variety of factors relating to the vessel operator, including:
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We face substantial competition from a number of experienced companies, including state-sponsored entities and major shipping companies. Some of these competitors have significantly greater financial resources than we do, and can therefore operate larger fleets and may be able to offer better charter rates. We anticipate that other marine transportation companies may also enter the containership sector, including many with strong reputations and extensive resources and experience. This increased competition may cause greater price competition for time charters and, in stronger market conditions, for secondhand vessels and newbuildings.
In addition, a number of our competitors in the containership sector, including several that are among the largest charter owners of containerships in the world, have been established in the form of a German KG (Kommanditgesellschaft), which provides tax benefits to private investors. Although the German tax law was amended to significantly restrict the tax benefits to taxpayers who invest after November 10, 2005, the tax benefits afforded to all investors in the KG-model shipping entities continue to be significant, and such entities will continue to be attractive investments. Their focus on these tax benefits allows the KG-model shipping entities more flexibility in offering lower charter rates to liner companies. Further, since the charter rate is generally considered to be one of the principal factors in a charterer's decision to charter a vessel, the rates offered by these sizeable competitors can have a depressing effect throughout the charter market.
As a result of these factors, we may be unable to compete successfully with established companies with greater resources or new entrants for charters at a profitable level, or at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may have more difficulty entering into multi-year, fixed-rate time charters if a more active short-term or spot container shipping market develops.
One of our principal strategies is to enter into multi-year, fixed-rate containership time charters particularly in strong charter rate environments, although in weaker charter rate environments, such as the one that currently exists, we would generally expect to target somewhat shorter charter terms of three to six years or even shorter periods. As more vessels become available for the spot or short-term market, we may have difficulty entering into additional multi-year, fixed-rate time charters for our containerships due to the increased supply of containerships and the possibility of lower rates in the spot market and, as a result, our cash flows may be subject to instability in the long-term. A more active short-term or spot market may require us to enter into charters based on changing market rates, as opposed to contracts based on a fixed rate, which could result in a decrease in our cash flows and net income in periods when the market for container shipping is depressed, as it is currently, or insufficient funds are available to cover our financing costs for related containerships.
Delays in deliveries of our additional 13 contracted newbuilding vessels could harm our business.
The 13 contracted newbuilding vessels in our contracted fleet as of March 31, 2011 are expected to be delivered to us at various times between April 2011 and June 2012. Delays in the delivery of these vessels, or any other newbuilding containerships we may order or any secondhand vessels we may agree to acquire, would delay our receipt of revenues under the arranged time charters and could result in the cancellation of those time charters or other liabilities under such charters, and therefore adversely affect our anticipated results of operations. In 2009, we reached agreements to delay the delivery of
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most of our containership newbuildings for periods of up to one year and on May 25, 2010, we signed a cancellation agreement with Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. to cancel three 6,500 TEU newbuilding containerships, the HN N-216, the HN N-217 and the HN N-218, and recorded an impairment loss of $71.5 million. As of March 31, 2011, we expect to take delivery of eight newbuilding vessels in the remainder of 2011 and five in 2012. The remaining capital expenditure installments for these vessels were approximately $558.1 million for the remainder of 2011 and $450.8 million for 2012. Delivery delays, such as those arranged in 2009, delay our funding requirements for the installment payments to purchase these vessels, however, they also delay our receipt of contracted revenues under the charters for such vessels.
The delivery of the newbuilding containerships could also be delayed because of, among other things:
The shipbuilders with which we have contracted for our 13 newbuildings, as of March 31, 2011, may be affected by the ongoing instability of the financial markets and other market conditions, including with respect to the fluctuating price of commodities and currency exchange rates. In addition, the refund guarantors under our newbuilding contracts, which are banks, financial institutions and other credit agencies, may also be affected by financial market conditions in the same manner as our lenders and, as a result, may be unable or unwilling to meet their obligations under their refund guarantees. If our shipbuilders or refund guarantors are unable or unwilling to meet their obligations to us, this will impact our acquisition of vessels and may materially and adversely affect our operations and our obligations under our credit facilities.
The delivery of any secondhand containership we may agree to acquire could be delayed because of, among other things, hostilities or political disturbances, non-performance of the purchase agreement with respect to the vessels by the seller, our inability to obtain requisite permits, approvals or financing or damage to or destruction of the vessels while being operated by the seller prior to the delivery date.
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Certain of the containerships in our contracted fleet are subject to purchase options held by the charterers of the respective vessels, which, if exercised, could reduce the size of our containership fleet and reduce our future revenues.
The chartering arrangements with respect to the CMA-CGM Moliere, the CMA-CGM Musset, the CMA-CGM Nerval, the CMA CGM Rabelais and the CMA CGM Racine include options for the charterer, CMA-CGM, to purchase the vessels eight years after the commencement of their respective charters, which, based on the respective expected delivery dates for these vessels, is expected to fall in September 2017, March 2018, May 2018, July 2018 and August 2018, respectively, each for $78.0 million. The option exercise prices with respect to these vessels reflect an estimate of market prices, which are in excess of the vessels' book values net of depreciation, at the time the options become exercisable. If CMA-CGM were to exercise these options with respect to any or all of these vessels, the expected size of our combined containership fleet would be reduced and, if there were a scarcity of secondhand containerships available for acquisition at such time and because of the delay in delivery associated with commissioning newbuilding containerships, we could be unable to replace these vessels with other comparable vessels, or any other vessels, quickly or, if containership values were higher than currently anticipated at the time we were required to sell these vessels, at a cost equal to the purchase price paid by CMA-CGM. Consequently, if these purchase options were to be exercised, the expected size of our combined containership fleet would be reduced, and as a result our anticipated level of revenues would be reduced.
Containership values have recently decreased significantly, and may remain at these depressed levels, or decrease further, and over time may fluctuate substantially. If these values are low at a time when we are attempting to dispose of a vessel, we could incur a loss.
Due to the sharp decline in world trade and containership charter rates, the market values of the containerships in our fleet are currently significantly lower than prior to the downturn in the second half of 2008. Containership values may remain at current low, or lower, levels for a prolonged period of time and can fluctuate substantially over time due to a number of different factors, including:
In the future, if the market values of our vessels experience further deterioration or we lose the benefits of the existing charter arrangements for any of our vessels and can not replace such arrangements with charters at comparable rates, we may be required to record an impairment charge in our financial statements, which could adversely affect our results of operations. If a charter expires or is terminated, we may be unable to re-charter the vessel at an acceptable rate and, rather than continue to incur costs to maintain and finance the vessel, may seek to dispose of it. Our inability to dispose of the containership at a reasonable price could result in a loss on its sale and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
We are generally not permitted to pay cash dividends under our financing arrangements.
Prior to 2009, we paid regular cash dividends on a quarterly basis. In the first quarter of 2009, our board of directors suspended the payment of cash dividends as a result of market conditions in the
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international shipping industry and in particular the sharp decline in charter rates and vessel values in the containership sector. Until such market conditions significantly improve, it is unlikely that we will reinstate the payment of dividends and if reinstated, it is likely that any dividend payments would be at reduced levels. The Bank Agreement, which restructures our credit facilities and provides new financing arrangements, does not permit us to pay cash dividends or repurchase shares of our common stock until the termination of such agreements in 2018, absent a significant decrease in our leverage.
We are a holding company and we depend on the ability of our subsidiaries to distribute funds to us in order to satisfy our financial obligations.
We are a holding company and our subsidiaries conduct all of our operations and own all of our operating assets. We have no significant assets other than the equity interests in our subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to pay our contractual obligations and, if permitted by our lenders and reinstated, to make any dividend payments in the future depends on our subsidiaries and their ability to distribute funds to us. The ability of a subsidiary to make these distributions could be affected by a claim or other action by a third party, including a creditor, or by the law of their respective jurisdictions of incorporation which regulates the payment of dividends by companies. If we are unable to obtain funds from our subsidiaries, even if our lenders agreed to allow dividend payments, our board of directors may exercise its discretion not to declare or pay dividends. If we reinstate dividend payments in the future, we do not intend to seek to obtain funds from other sources to make such dividend payments, if any.
If we are unable to fund our capital expenditures, we may not be able to continue to operate some of our vessels or grow our fleet, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.
We must make substantial capital expenditures to maintain the operating capacity of our fleet and to grow our fleet. Maintenance capital expenditures include capital expenditures associated with drydocking a vessel, modifying an existing vessel or acquiring a new vessel to the extent these expenditures are incurred to maintain the operating capacity of our fleet. These expenditures could increase as a result of changes in the cost of labor and materials; customer requirements; increases in our fleet size or the cost of replacement vessels; governmental regulations and maritime self-regulatory organization standards relating to safety, security or the environment; and competitive standards.
In order to fund our capital expenditures, other than installment payments for our currently contracted newbuilding vessels which we expect to fund with existing cash resources, cash from operations and borrowings under our existing financing arrangements, we generally plan to use equity financing given the restrictions that are contained in our restructured credit facilities and new financing arrangements on the use of cash from our operations, debt financings and asset sales for purposes other than debt repayment. Our ability to access the capital markets through future offerings may be limited by our financial condition at the time of any such offering as well as by adverse market conditions resulting from, among other things, general economic conditions and contingencies and uncertainties that are beyond our control. Moreover, only a portion of the proceeds from any equity financings that we are able to complete will be permitted to be used for purposes other than debt repayment under our restructured and new financing arrangements. Our failure to obtain the funds for necessary future capital expenditures could limit our ability to continue to operate some of our vessels or grow our fleet or impair the values of our vessels and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
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The derivative contracts we have entered into to hedge our exposure to fluctuations in interest rates could result in higher than market interest rates and reductions in our stockholders' equity, as well as charges against our income.
We have entered into interest rate swaps, in an aggregate notional amount of $3.9 billion as of December 31, 2010 (of which $0.4 billion related to forward starting arrangements), generally for purposes of managing our exposure to fluctuations in interest rates applicable to indebtedness under our credit facilities, which were advanced at floating rates based on LIBOR, as well as two interest rate swap agreements, in an aggregate notional amount of $0.1 million as of December 31, 2010, converting fixed interest rate exposure under our credit facilities advanced at a fixed rate of interest to floating rates based on LIBOR. Our hedging strategies, however, may not be effective and we may again incur substantial losses, as we did in 2010 and 2009, if interest rates move materially differently from our expectations.
To the extent our existing interest rate swaps do not, and future derivative contracts may not, qualify for treatment as hedges for accounting purposes we would recognize fluctuations in the fair value of such contracts in our consolidated statements of income. If our estimates of the forecasted incurrence of debt change, as they did as of December 31, 2010 due to the deferred delivery dates arranged for certain of our newbuildings and as a result of the modified amortization of our existing credit facilities under the terms of the restructuring agreement, our interest rate swap arrangements may cease to be effective as hedges and, therefore, cease to qualify for treatment as hedges for accounting purposes. In addition, changes in the fair value of our derivative contracts, even those that qualify for treatment as hedges for accounting and financial reporting purposes, are recognized in "Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss" on our consolidated balance sheet in relation to the effective portion of our cash flow hedges and in our consolidated income statement in relation to the ineffective portion, and can affect compliance with the net worth covenant requirements in our credit facilities.
Our financial condition could also be materially adversely affected to the extent we do not hedge our exposure to interest rate fluctuations under our financing arrangements under which loans have been advanced at a floating rate based on LIBOR. Any hedging activities we engage in may not effectively manage our interest rate exposure or have the desired impact on our financial conditions or results of operations.
Because we generate all of our revenues in United States dollars but incur a significant portion of our expenses in other currencies, exchange rate fluctuations could hurt our results of operations.
We generate all of our revenues in United States dollars and for the year ended December 31, 2010, we incurred approximately 37% of our vessels' expenses in currencies other than United States dollars. This difference could lead to fluctuations in net income due to changes in the value of the United States dollar relative to the other currencies, in particular the Euro. Expenses incurred in foreign currencies against which the United States dollar falls in value could increase, thereby decreasing our net income. We have not hedged our currency exposure and, as a result, our U.S. dollar-denominated results of operations and financial condition could suffer.
Due to our lack of diversification following the sale of our drybulk carriers, adverse developments in the containership transportation business could reduce our ability to meet our payment obligations and our profitability.
In August 2006, we agreed to sell the six drybulk carriers in our fleet, with an aggregate capacity of 342,158 deadweight tons, or dwt, for an aggregate of $143.5 million. In the first quarter of 2007, we delivered five of these vessels to the purchaser, which is not affiliated with us, for an aggregate of $118.0 million and the remaining vessel to the purchaser for $25.5 million when its charter expired in
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the second quarter of 2007. We rely exclusively on the cash flows generated from charters for our vessels that operate in the containership sector of the shipping industry. Due to our lack of diversification, adverse developments in the container shipping industry have a significantly greater impact on our financial condition and results of operations than if we maintained more diverse assets or lines of business.
We may have difficulty properly managing our growth through acquisitions of additional vessels and we may not realize the expected benefits from these acquisitions, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and performance.
To the extent market conditions warrant and we are able to obtain sufficient financing for such purposes in compliance with the restrictions in our financing arrangements, we intend to grow our business over the medium to long-term by ordering newbuilding containerships and through selective acquisitions of additional vessels. Future growth will primarily depend on:
Although charter rates and vessel values have recently declined significantly, along with the availability of debt to finance vessel acquisitions, during periods in which charter rates are high, vessel values generally are high as well, and it may be difficult to acquire vessels at favorable prices. Moreover, our financing arrangements impose significant restrictions in our ability to use debt financing, or cash from operations, asset sales or equity financing, for purposes, such as vessel acquisitions, other than debt repayment without the consent of our lenders. In addition, growing any business by acquisition presents numerous risks, such as managing relationships with customers and integrating newly acquired assets into existing infrastructure. We cannot give any assurance that we will be successful in executing our growth plans or that we will not incur significant expenses and losses in connection with our future growth efforts.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, our manager pled to one count of negligent discharge of oil from the Henry (ex CMA CGM Passiflore) and one count of obstruction of justice, based on a charge of attempted concealment of the source of the discharge. Any violation of the terms of the plea agreement, or any penalties or heightened environmental compliance plan requirements imposed as a result of any alleged discharge from any other vessel in our fleet calling at U.S. ports could negatively affect our operations and business.
In the summer of 2001, one of our vessels, the Henry (ex CMA CGM Passiflore), experienced engine damage at sea that resulted in an accumulation of oil and oily water in the vessel's engine room. The U.S. Coast Guard found oil in the overboard discharge pipe from the vessel's oily water separator. Subsequently, on July 2, 2001, when the vessel was at anchor in Long Beach, California, representatives of our manager notified authorities of the presence of oil on the water on the starboard side of the vessel. On July 3, 2001, oil was found in an opening through which seawater is taken in to cool the vessel's engines. In connection with these events, our manager entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney, on behalf of the government, which was filed with the U.S. District Court on June 20,
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2006, pursuant to which our manager agreed to plead guilty to one count of negligent discharge of oil and one count of obstruction of justice, based on a charge of attempted concealment of the source of the discharge. Our manager also agreed to a probation period of three years and to pay an aggregate of $500,000 in penalties in connection with the charges of negligent discharge and obstruction of justice, with half of the penalties to be applied to community service projects that would benefit, restore or preserve the environment and ecosystems in the central California area. Consistent with the government's practice in similar cases, our manager agreed to develop and implement an approved third-party consultant monitored environmental compliance plan, designate an internal corporate compliance manager, and arrange for, fund and complete a series of audits of its fleet management offices and of waste streams of the vessels it manages, including all of the vessels in our fleet that call at U.S. ports, as well as an independent, third-party focused environmental compliance plan audit. On August 14, 2006, the court accepted our manager's guilty plea to the two counts and, on December 4, 2006, sentenced our manager in accordance with the terms of the plea agreement. Our manager has developed and is implementing the environmental compliance plan. Any violation of this environmental compliance plan or of the terms of our manager's probation or any penalties, restitution or heightened environmental compliance plan requirements that are imposed relating to alleged discharges in any other action involving our fleet or our manager could negatively affect our operations and business.
We are subject to regulation and liability under environmental laws that could require significant expenditures and affect our cash flows and net income.
Our business and the operation of our vessels are materially affected by environmental regulation in the form of international, national, state and local laws, regulations, conventions and standards in force in international waters and the jurisdictions in which our vessels operate, as well as in the country or countries of their registration, including those governing the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of oil spills and other contamination, air emissions, wastewater discharges and ballast water management. Because such conventions, laws, and regulations are often revised, we cannot predict the ultimate cost of complying with such requirements or their impact on the resale price or useful life of our vessels. We are required by various governmental and quasi-governmental agencies to obtain certain permits, licenses, certificates and financial assurances with respect to our operations. Many environmental requirements are designed to reduce the risk of pollution, such as oil spills, and our compliance with these requirements can be costly. Additional conventions, laws and regulations may be adopted that could limit our ability to do business or increase the cost of doing business and which may materially and adversely affect our operations.
Environmental requirements can also affect the resale value or useful lives of our vessels, could require a reduction in cargo capacity, ship modifications or operational changes or restrictions, could lead to decreased availability of insurance coverage for environmental matters or could result in the denial of access to certain jurisdictional waters or ports or detention in certain ports. Under local, national and foreign laws, as well as international treaties and conventions, we could incur material liabilities, including cleanup obligations and natural resource damages liability, in the event that there is a release of petroleum or other hazardous material from our vessels or otherwise in connection with our operations. Environmental laws often impose strict liability for remediation of spills and releases of oil and hazardous substances, which could subject us to liability without regard to whether we were negligent or at fault. The 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico may result in further regulation of the shipping industry, including modifications to liability schemes. We could also become subject to personal injury or property damage claims relating to the release of hazardous substances associated with our existing or historic operations. Violations of, or liabilities under, environmental requirements can result in substantial penalties, fines and other sanctions, including, in certain instances, seizure or detention of our vessels.
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The operation of our vessels is also affected by the requirements set forth in the International Maritime Organization's, or IMO's, International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention, or the ISM Code. The ISM Code requires shipowners and bareboat charterers to develop and maintain an extensive "Safety Management System" that includes the adoption of a safety and environmental protection policy setting forth instructions and procedures for safe operation and describing procedures for dealing with emergencies. Failure to comply with the ISM Code may subject us to increased liability, may decrease available insurance coverage for the affected ships, and may result in denial of access to, or detention in, certain ports.
Increased inspection procedures, tighter import and export controls and new security regulations could cause disruption of our containership business.
International container shipping is subject to security and customs inspection and related procedures in countries of origin, destination, and certain trans-shipment points. These inspection procedures can result in cargo seizure, delays in the loading, offloading, trans-shipment, or delivery of containers, and the levying of customs duties, fines or other penalties against exporters or importers and, in some cases, charterers and charter owners.
Since the events of September 11, 2001, U.S. authorities have more than doubled container inspection rates to over 5% of all imported containers. Government investment in non-intrusive container scanning technology has grown and there is interest in electronic monitoring technology, including so-called "e-seals" and "smart" containers, that would enable remote, centralized monitoring of containers during shipment to identify tampering with or opening of the containers, along with potentially measuring other characteristics such as temperature, air pressure, motion, chemicals, biological agents and radiation. Also, as a response to the events of September 11, 2001, additional vessel security requirements have been imposed including the installation of security alert and automatic information systems on board vessels.
It is further unclear what changes, if any, to the existing inspection and security procedures will ultimately be proposed or implemented, or how any such changes will affect the industry. It is possible that such changes could impose additional financial and legal obligations, including additional responsibility for inspecting and recording the contents of containers and complying with additional security procedures on board vessels, such as those imposed under the ISPS Code. Changes to the inspection and security procedures and container security could result in additional costs and obligations on carriers and may, in certain cases, render the shipment of certain types of goods by container uneconomical or impractical. Additional costs that may arise from current inspection or security procedures or future proposals that may not be fully recoverable from customers through higher rates or security surcharges.
Governments could requisition our vessels during a period of war or emergency, resulting in loss of earnings.
A government of a ship's registry could requisition for title or seize our vessels. Requisition for title occurs when a government takes control of a ship and becomes the owner. Also, a government could requisition our containerships for hire. Requisition for hire occurs when a government takes control of a ship and effectively becomes the charterer at dictated charter rates. Generally, requisitions occur during a period of war or emergency. Government requisition of one or more of our vessels may negatively impact our revenues and results of operations.
Terrorist attacks and international hostilities could affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Terrorist attacks such as the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 and more recent attacks in other parts of the world, and the continuing response of the United States and other countries to these attacks, as well as the threat of future terrorist attacks, continue to cause uncertainty
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in the world financial markets and may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Events in the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt and Libya, and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may lead to additional acts of terrorism, regional conflict and other armed conflicts around the world, which may contribute to further economic instability in the global financial markets. These uncertainties could also adversely affect our ability to obtain additional financing on terms acceptable to us, or at all.
Terrorist attacks targeted at sea vessels, such as the October 2002 attack in Yemen on the VLCC Limburg, a ship not related to us, may in the future also negatively affect our operations and financial condition and directly impact our containerships or our customers. Future terrorist attacks could result in increased volatility of the financial markets in the United States and globally and could result in an economic recession affecting the United States or the entire world. Any of these occurrences could have a material adverse impact on our operating results, revenue and costs.
Changing economic, political and governmental conditions in the countries where we are engaged in business or where our vessels are registered could affect us. In addition, future hostilities or other political instability in regions where our vessels trade could also affect our trade patterns and adversely affect our operations and performance.
Acts of piracy on ocean-going vessels have recently increased in frequency, which could adversely affect our business.
Acts of piracy have historically affected ocean-going vessels trading in regions of the world such as the South China Sea and in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Since 2008, the frequency of piracy incidents has increased significantly, particularly in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. For example, in January 2010, the Maran Centaurus, a tanker vessel not affiliated with us, was captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean while carrying crude oil estimated to be worth $20 million, and was released in January 2010 upon a ransom payment of over $5 million. In addition, crew costs, including costs due to employing onboard security guards, could increase in such circumstances. We may not be adequately insured to cover losses from these incidents, which could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, any detention or hijacking as a result of an act of piracy against our vessels, or an increase in cost, or unavailability, of insurance for our vessels, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and ability to pay dividends.
Risks inherent in the operation of ocean-going vessels could affect our business and reputation, which could adversely affect our expenses, net income and stock price.
The operation of ocean-going vessels carries inherent risks. These risks include the possibility of:
Such occurrences could result in death or injury to persons, loss of property or environmental damage, delays in the delivery of cargo, loss of revenues from or termination of charter contracts,
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governmental fines, penalties or restrictions on conducting business, higher insurance rates, and damage to our reputation and customer relationships generally. Any of these circumstances or events could increase our costs or lower our revenues, which could result in reduction in the market price of our shares of common stock. The involvement of our vessels in an environmental disaster may harm our reputation as a safe and reliable vessel owner and operator.
Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations due to the inherent operational risks of the shipping industry.
The operation of any vessel includes risks such as mechanical failure, collision, fire, contact with floating objects, property loss, cargo loss or damage and business interruption due to political circumstances in foreign countries, hostilities and labor strikes. In addition, there is always an inherent possibility of a marine disaster, including oil spills and other environmental mishaps. There are also liabilities arising from owning and operating vessels in international trade. We procure insurance for our fleet against risks commonly insured against by vessel owners and operators. Our current insurance includes (i) hull and machinery insurance covering damage to our vessels' hull and machinery from, among other things, contact with free and floating objects, (ii) war risks insurance covering losses associated with the outbreak or escalation of hostilities and (iii) protection and indemnity insurance (which includes environmental damage and pollution insurance) covering third-party and crew liabilities such as expenses resulting from the injury or death of crew members, passengers and other third parties, the loss or damage to cargo, third-party claims arising from collisions with other vessels, damage to other third-party property, pollution arising from oil or other substances and salvage, towing and other related costs and loss of hire insurance for the CSCL Europe, the CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic), the CSCL Pusan (ex HN 1559) and the CSCL Le Havre (ex HN 1561).
We can give no assurance that we are adequately insured against all risks or that our insurers will pay a particular claim. Even if our insurance coverage is adequate to cover our losses, we may not be able to obtain a timely replacement vessel in the event of a loss. Under the terms of our credit facilities, we will be subject to restrictions on the use of any proceeds we may receive from claims under our insurance policies. Furthermore, in the future, we may not be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at reasonable rates for our fleet. We may also be subject to calls, or premiums, in amounts based not only on our own claim records but also the claim records of all other members of the protection and indemnity associations through which we receive indemnity insurance coverage for tort liability. Our insurance policies also contain deductibles, limitations and exclusions which, although we believe are standard in the shipping industry, may nevertheless increase our costs.
In addition, we do not carry loss of hire insurance (other than for the CSCL Europe, the CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic), the CSCL Pusan (ex HN 1559) and the CSCL Le Havre (ex HN 1561) to satisfy our loan agreement requirements). Loss of hire insurance covers the loss of revenue during extended vessel off-hire periods, such as those that occur during an unscheduled drydocking due to damage to the vessel from accidents. Accordingly, any loss of a vessel or any extended period of vessel off-hire, due to an accident or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.
Maritime claimants could arrest our vessels, which could interrupt our cash flows.
Crew members, suppliers of goods and services to a vessel, shippers of cargo and other parties may be entitled to a maritime lien against that vessel for unsatisfied debts, claims or damages. In many jurisdictions, a maritime lien holder may enforce its lien by arresting a vessel through foreclosure proceedings. The arrest or attachment of one or more of our vessels could interrupt our cash flows and require us to pay large sums of money to have the arrest lifted.
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In addition, in some jurisdictions, such as South Africa, under the "sister ship" theory of liability, a claimant may arrest both the vessel that is subject to the claimant's maritime lien and any "associated" vessel, which is any vessel owned or controlled by the same owner. Claimants could try to assert "sister ship" liability against one vessel in our fleet for claims relating to another of our ships.
The aging of our fleet may result in increased operating costs in the future, which could adversely affect our earnings.
In general, the cost of maintaining a vessel in good operating condition increases with the age of the vessel. As our fleet ages, we may incur increased costs. Older vessels are typically less fuel efficient and more costly to maintain than more recently constructed vessels due to improvements in engine technology. Cargo insurance rates also increase with the age of a vessel, making older vessels less desirable to charterers. Governmental regulations and safety or other equipment standards related to the age of a vessel may also require expenditures for alterations or the addition of new equipment to our vessels, and may restrict the type of activities in which our vessels may engage. Although our current fleet of 52 containerships had an average age (weighted by TEU capacity) of approximately 8.25 years as of March 31, 2011, we cannot assure you that, as our vessels age, market conditions will justify such expenditures or will enable us to profitably operate our vessels during the remainder of their expected useful lives.
Compliance with safety and other requirements imposed by classification societies may be very costly and may adversely affect our business.
The hull and machinery of every commercial vessel must be classed by a classification society authorized by its country of registry. The classification society certifies that a vessel is safe and seaworthy in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the country of registry of the vessel and the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, and all vessels must be awarded ISM certification.
A vessel must undergo annual surveys, intermediate surveys and special surveys. In lieu of a special survey, a vessel's machinery may be on a continuous survey cycle, under which the machinery would be surveyed periodically over a five-year period. Each of the vessels in our fleet is on a special survey cycle for hull inspection and a continuous survey cycle for machinery inspection.
If any vessel does not maintain its class or fails any annual, intermediate or special survey, and/or loses its certification, the vessel will be unable to trade between ports and will be unemployable, and we could be in violation of certain covenants in our loan agreements. This would negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.
Our business depends upon certain employees who may not necessarily continue to work for us.
Our future success depends to a significant extent upon our chief executive officer, Dr. John Coustas, and certain members of our senior management and that of our manager. Dr. Coustas has substantial experience in the container shipping industry and has worked with us and our manager for many years. He and others employed by us and our manager are crucial to the execution of our business strategies and to the growth and development of our business. In addition, under the terms of the Bank Agreement in respect of restructuring our existing credit facilities and the new financing arrangements for which we have reached agreements in principle, Dr. Coustas ceasing to serve as our Chief Executive Officer, absent a successor acceptable to our lenders, would constitute an event of default under these agreements. If these certain individuals were no longer to be affiliated with us or our manager, or if we were to otherwise cease to receive advisory services from them, we may be unable to recruit other employees with equivalent talent and experience, and our business and financial condition may suffer as a result.
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The provisions in our employment arrangements with our chief executive officer restricting his ability to compete with us, like restrictive covenants generally, may not be enforceable.
In connection with his employment agreement with us, Dr. Coustas, our chief executive officer, has entered into a restrictive covenant agreement with us under which he is precluded during the term of his employment and for one year thereafter from owning and operating drybulk ships or containerships larger than 2,500 TEUs and from acquiring or investing in a business that owns or operates such vessels. Courts generally do not favor the enforcement of such restrictions, particularly when they involve individuals and could be construed as infringing on their ability to be employed or to earn a livelihood. Our ability to enforce these restrictions, should it ever become necessary, will depend upon the circumstances that exist at the time enforcement is sought. We cannot be assured that a court would enforce the restrictions as written by way of an injunction or that we could necessarily establish a case for damages as a result of a violation of the restrictive covenants.
We depend on our manager to operate our business.
Pursuant to the management agreement and the individual ship management agreements, our manager and its affiliates may provide us with certain of our officers and will provide us with technical, administrative and certain commercial services (including vessel maintenance, crewing, purchasing, shipyard supervision, insurance, assistance with regulatory compliance and financial services). Our operational success will depend significantly upon our manager's satisfactory performance of these services. Our business would be harmed if our manager failed to perform these services satisfactorily. In addition, if the management agreement were to be terminated or if its terms were to be altered, our business could be adversely affected, as we may not be able to immediately replace such services, and even if replacement services were immediately available, the terms offered could be less favorable than the ones currently offered by our manager. Our management agreement with any new manager may not be as favorable.
Our ability to compete for and enter into new time charters and to expand our relationships with our existing charterers depends largely on our relationship with our manager and its reputation and relationships in the shipping industry. If our manager suffers material damage to its reputation or relationships, it may harm our ability to:
If our ability to do any of the things described above is impaired, it could have a material adverse effect on our business and affect our profitability.
Our manager is a privately held company and there is little or no publicly available information about it.
The ability of our manager to continue providing services for our benefit will depend in part on its own financial strength. Circumstances beyond our control could impair our manager's financial strength, and because it is a privately held company, information about its financial strength is not available. As a result, our stockholders might have little advance warning of problems affecting our manager, even though these problems could have a material adverse effect on us. As part of our
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reporting obligations as a public company, we will disclose information regarding our manager that has a material impact on us to the extent that we become aware of such information.
We are a Marshall Islands corporation, and the Marshall Islands does not have a well developed body of corporate law.
Our corporate affairs are governed by our articles of incorporation and bylaws and by the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act, or BCA. The provisions of the BCA are similar to provisions of the corporation laws of a number of states in the United States. However, there have been few judicial cases in the Republic of The Marshall Islands interpreting the BCA. The rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under the law of the Republic of The Marshall Islands are not as clearly established as the rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under statutes or judicial precedent in existence in certain U.S. jurisdictions. Stockholder rights may differ as well. While the BCA does specifically incorporate the non-statutory law, or judicial case law, of the State of Delaware and other states with substantially similar legislative provisions, our public stockholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions by the management, directors or controlling stockholders than would stockholders of a corporation incorporated in a U.S. jurisdiction.
It may be difficult to enforce service of process and enforcement of judgments against us and our officers and directors.
We are a Marshall Islands corporation, and our registered office is located outside of the United States in the Marshall Islands. A majority of our directors and officers reside outside of the United States, and a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of our officers and directors are located outside of the United States. As a result, you may have difficulty serving legal process within the United States upon us or any of these persons. You may also have difficulty enforcing, both in and outside of the United States, judgments you may obtain in the U.S. courts against us or these persons in any action, including actions based upon the civil liability provisions of U.S. federal or state securities laws.
There is also substantial doubt that the courts of the Marshall Islands would enter judgments in original actions brought in those courts predicated on U.S. federal or state securities laws. Even if you were successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Marshall Islands may prevent or restrict you from enforcing a judgment against our assets or our directors and officers.
We maintain cash with a limited number of financial institutions including financial institutions that may be located in Greece, which will subject us to credit risk.
We maintain all of our cash with a limited number of financial institutions, including institutions that are located in Greece. These financial institutions located in Greece may be subsidiaries of international banks or Greek financial institutions. Economic conditions in Greece have been, and continue to be, severely disrupted and volatile, and as a result of sovereign weakness, Moody's Investor Services Inc. has recently downgraded the bank financial strength ratings, as well as the deposit and debt ratings, of several Greek banks to reflect their weakening stand-alone financial strength and the anticipated additional pressures stemming from the country's challenged economic prospects.
We do not expect that any of our balances held with Greek financial institutions will be covered by insurance in the event of default by these financial institutions. The occurrence of such a default could therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. If we are unable to fund our capital expenditures, we may not be able to continue to operate some of our vessels, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and could diminish our ability to pay dividends.
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Risks Relating to Our Common Stock
The market price of our common stock has fluctuated widely and the market price of our common stock may fluctuate in the future.
The market price of our common stock has fluctuated widely since our initial public offering in October 2006, reaching a high of $40.26 per share in 2007 and a low of $2.72 per share in the third quarter of 2009, and may continue to do so as a result of many factors, including our actual results of operations and perceived prospects, the prospects of our competition and of the shipping industry in general and in particular the containership sector, differences between our actual financial and operating results and those expected by investors and analysts, changes in analysts' recommendations or projections, changes in general valuations for companies in the shipping industry, particularly the containership sector, changes in general economic or market conditions and broad market fluctuations.
If the market price of our common stock again drops below $5.00 per share, under stock exchange rules, our stockholders will not be able to use such shares as collateral for borrowing in margin accounts. This inability to use shares of our common stock as collateral may depress demand as certain institutional investors are restricted from investing in shares priced below $5.00 and lead to sales of such shares creating downward pressure on and increased volatility in the market price of our common stock.
In addition, under the rules of The New York Stock Exchange, listed companies are required to maintain a share price of at least $1.00 per share and if the share price declines below $1.00 for a period of 30 consecutive business days, then the listed company would have a cure period of 180 days to regain compliance with the $1.00 per share minimum. In the event that our share price declines below $1.00, we may be required to take action, such as a reverse stock split, in order to comply with the New York Stock Exchange rules that may be in effect at the time in order to avoid delisting of our common stock and the associated decrease in liquidity in the market for our common stock.
Future issuances of equity, including upon exercise of outstanding warrants, or equity- linked securities, or future sales of our common stock by existing stockholders, may result in significant dilution and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
We have or will issue 15 million warrants, for no additional consideration, to our existing lenders participating in the Bank Agreement covering our then existing credit facilities and certain new credit facilities, entitling such lenders to purchase, solely on a cash-less exercise basis, additional shares of our common stock, at an initial exercise price of $7.00 per share. We have also agreed to register the warrants and underlying common stock for resale under the Securities Act.
We may have to attempt to sell additional shares in the future to satisfy our capital and operating needs. In addition, lenders may be unwilling to provide future financing or may provide future financing only on unfavorable terms. In light of the restrictions on our use of cash from operations, debt financings and asset sales contained in our Bank Agreement governing our credit facilities, to finance further growth beyond our contracted newbuildings we would likely have to issue additional shares of common stock or other equity securities. If we sell shares in the future, the prices at which we sell these future shares will vary, and these variations may be significant. If made at currently prevailing prices, these sales would be significantly dilutive of existing stockholders. We granted the investors in our $200 million August 2010 equity transaction certain rights, in connection with any subsequent underwritten public offering that is effected at any time prior to the fifth anniversary of the registration rights agreements, to purchase from us, at the same price per share paid by investors who purchase common stock in any such offering, up to a specified portion of such common stock being issued.
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Subsequent resales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market, moreover, could adversely affect the market price of our shares. We filed with the SEC shelf registration statements on Form F-3 registering under the Securities Act an aggregate of 63,645,305 shares of our common stock for resale on behalf of selling stockholders, including our executive officers, in addition to securities issuable by us, and granted registration rights in respect of additional shares of our common stock held by our largest stockholder and certain other investors in our August 2010 equity offering. In the aggregate these 63,645,305 registered shares represent approximately 58.6% of our outstanding shares of common stock as of March 31, 2011. These shares may be sold in registered transactions and may also be resold subject to the holding period, volume, manner of sale and notice requirements of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. Sales or the possibility of sales of substantial amounts of our common stock by these shareholders in the public markets could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
We cannot predict the effect that future sales of our common stock or other equity related securities would have on the market price of our common stock.
The Coustas Family Trust, our principal existing stockholder, controls the outcome of matters on which our stockholders are entitled to vote and its interests may be different from yours.
The Coustas Family Trust, under which our chief executive officer is both a beneficiary, together with other members of the Coustas Family, and the protector (which is analogous to a trustee), through Danaos Investments Limited, a corporation wholly-owned by Dr. Coustas, owned, directly or indirectly, approximately 62.3% of our outstanding common stock as of March 31, 2011. This stockholder is able to control the outcome of matters on which our stockholders are entitled to vote, including the election of our entire board of directors and other significant corporate actions. The interests of this stockholder may be different from yours. Under the terms of the Bank Agreement governing our credit facilities, Dr. Coustas, together with the Coustas Family Trust and his family, ceasing to own over one-third of our outstanding common stock will constitute an event of default in certain circumstances.
We are a "controlled company" under the New York Stock Exchange rules, and as such we are entitled to exemptions from certain New York Stock Exchange corporate governance standards, and you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.
We are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance standards. Under the New York Stock Exchange rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by another company or group is a "controlled company" and may elect not to comply with certain New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements, including (1) the requirement that a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors, (2) the requirement that the nominating committee be composed entirely of independent directors and have a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities, (3) the requirement that the compensation committee be composed entirely of independent directors and have a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities and (4) the requirement of an annual performance evaluation of the nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees. We may utilize these exemptions, and currently a non-independent director serves on our compensation committee and on our nominating and corporate governance committees. As a result, non-independent directors, including members of our management who also serve on our board of directors, may serve on the compensation or the nominating and corporate governance committees of our board of directors which, among other things, fix the compensation of our management, make stock and option awards and resolve governance issues regarding us. Accordingly, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.
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Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents could make it difficult for our stockholders to replace or remove our current board of directors or could have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a merger or acquisition, which could adversely affect the market price of the shares of our common stock.
Several provisions of our articles of incorporation and bylaws could make it difficult for our stockholders to change the composition of our board of directors in any one year, preventing them from changing the composition of our management. In addition, the same provisions may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition that stockholders may consider favorable.
These provisions:
We have adopted a stockholder rights plan pursuant to which our board of directors may cause the substantial dilution of the holdings of any person that attempts to acquire us without the approval of our board of directors. In addition, our respective lenders under our existing credit facilities covered by the Bank Agreement for the restructuring thereof and the new credit facilities will be entitled to require us to repay in full amounts outstanding under such credit facilities, if Dr. Coustas ceases to be our Chief Executive Officer or, together with members of his family and trusts for the benefit thereof, ceases to collectively own over one-third of the voting interest in our outstanding capital stock or any other person or group controls more than 20.0% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.
These anti-takeover provisions, including the provisions of our stockholder rights plan, could substantially impede the ability of public stockholders to benefit from a change in control and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and your ability to realize any potential change of control premium.
We may have to pay tax on U.S.-source income, which would reduce our earnings.
Under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, 50% of the gross shipping income of a ship owning or chartering corporation, such as ourselves, that is attributable to transportation that begins or ends, but that does not both begin and end, in the United States is characterized as U.S.-source shipping income and as such is subject to a 4% U.S. federal income tax without allowance for deduction, unless that corporation qualifies for exemption from tax under Section 883 of the Code and the Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder.
Other than with respect to four of our vessel-owning subsidiaries, as to which we are uncertain whether they qualify for this statutory tax exemption, we believe that we and our subsidiaries currently qualify for this statutory tax exemption and we currently intend to take that position for U.S. federal
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income tax reporting purposes. However, there are factual circumstances beyond our control that could cause us or our subsidiaries to fail to qualify for the benefit of this tax exemption and thus to be subject to U.S. federal income tax on U.S.-source shipping income. There can be no assurance that we or any of our subsidiaries will qualify for this tax exemption for any year. For example, even assuming, as we expect will be the case, that our shares are regularly and primarily traded on an established securities market in the United States, if shareholders each of whom owns, actually or under applicable attribution rules, 5% or more of our shares own, in the aggregate, 50% or more of our shares, then we and our subsidiaries will generally not be eligible for the Section 883 exemption unless we can establish, in accordance with specified ownership certification procedures, either (i) that a sufficient number of the shares in the closely-held block are owned, directly or under the applicable attribution rules, by "qualified shareholders" (generally, individuals resident in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions) so that the shares in the closely-held block that are not so owned could not constitute 50% or more of our shares for more than half of the days in the relevant tax year or (ii) that qualified shareholders owned more than 50% of our shares for at least half of the days in the relevant taxable year. There can be no assurance that we will be able to establish such ownership by qualified shareholders for any tax year. In connection with the four vessel-owning subsidiaries referred to above, we note that qualification under Section 883 will depend in part upon the ownership, directly or under the applicable attribution rules, of preferred shares issued by such subsidiaries as to which we are not the direct or indirect owner of record.
If we or our subsidiaries are not entitled to the exemption under Section 883 for any taxable year, we or our subsidiaries would be subject for those years to a 4% U.S. federal income tax on our gross U.S. source shipping income. The imposition of this taxation could have a negative effect on our business and would result in decreased earnings available for distribution to our stockholders. A number of our charters contain provisions that obligate the charterers to reimburse us for the 4% gross basis tax on our U.S. source shipping income.
If we were treated as a "passive foreign investment company," certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could result to U.S. stockholders.
A foreign corporation will be treated as a "passive foreign investment company," or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes if at least 75% of its gross income for any taxable year consists of certain types of "passive income," or at least 50% of the average value of the corporation's assets produce or are held for the production of those types of "passive income." For purposes of these tests, "passive income" includes dividends, interest, and gains from the sale or exchange of investment property and rents and royalties other than rents and royalties that are received from unrelated parties in connection with the active conduct of a trade or business. For purposes of these tests, income derived from the performance of services does not constitute "passive income." In general, U.S. stockholders of a PFIC are subject to a disadvantageous U.S. federal income tax regime with respect to the distributions they receive from the PFIC, and the gain, if any, they derive from the sale or other disposition of their shares in the PFIC. If we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year, we will provide information to U.S. stockholders to enable them to make certain elections to alleviate certain of the adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences that would arise as a result of holding an interest in a PFIC.
While there are legal uncertainties involved in this determination, including as a result of a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Tidewater Inc. and Subsidiaries v. United States, 565 F.3d 299 (5th Cir. 2009) which held that income derived from certain time chartering activities should be treated as rental income rather than services income for purposes of the foreign sales corporation rules under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, we believe we should not be treated as a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2010. However, if the principles of the Tidewater decision were applicable to our time charters, we would likely be treated as a PFIC.
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Moreover, there is no assurance that the nature of our assets, income and operations will not change or that we can avoid being treated as a PFIC for subsequent years.
The enactment of proposed legislation could affect whether dividends paid by us constitute qualified dividend income eligible for the preferential rate.
Legislation has been introduced that would deny the preferential rate of federal income tax currently imposed on qualified dividend income with respect to dividends received from a non-U.S. corporation, unless the non-U.S. corporation either is eligible for benefits of a comprehensive income tax treaty with the United States or is created or organized under the laws of a foreign country which has a comprehensive income tax system. Because the Marshall Islands has not entered into a comprehensive income tax treaty with the United States and imposes only limited taxes on corporations organized under its laws, it is unlikely that we could satisfy either of these requirements. It is not possible at this time to predict with certainty whether or in what form the proposed legislation will be enacted.
If the regulations regarding the exemption from Liberian taxation for non-resident corporations issued by the Liberian Ministry of Finance were found to be invalid, the net income and cash flows of our Liberian subsidiaries and therefore our net income and cash flows, would be materially reduced.
A number of our subsidiaries are incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Liberia. The Republic of Liberia enacted a new income tax act effective as of January 1, 2001 (the "New Act") which does not distinguish between the taxation of "non-resident" Liberian corporations, such as our Liberian subsidiaries, which conduct no business in Liberia and were wholly exempt from taxation under the income tax law previously in effect since 1977, and "resident" Liberian corporations which conduct business in Liberia and are, and were under the prior law, subject to taxation.
In 2004, the Liberian Ministry of Finance issued regulations exempting non-resident corporations engaged in international shipping, such as our Liberian subsidiaries, from Liberian taxation under the New Act retroactive to January 1, 2001. It is unclear whether these regulations, which ostensibly conflict with the express terms of the New Act adopted by the Liberian legislature, are valid. However, the Liberian Ministry of Justice issued an opinion that the new regulations are a valid exercise of the regulatory authority of the Ministry of Finance. The Liberian Ministry of Finance has not at any time since January 1, 2001 sought to collect taxes from any of our Liberian subsidiaries.
If our Liberian subsidiaries were subject to Liberian income tax under the New Act, they would be subject to tax at a rate of 35% on their worldwide income. As a result, their, and subsequently our, net income and cash flows would be materially reduced. In addition, as the ultimate stockholder of the Liberian subsidiaries, we would be subject to Liberian withholding tax on dividends paid by our Liberian subsidiaries at rates ranging from 15% to 20%, which would limit our access to funds generated by the operations of our subsidiaries and further reduce our income and cash flows.
Item 4. Information on the Company
History and Development of the Company
Danaos Corporation is an international owner of containerships, chartering its vessels to many of the world's largest liner companies. We are a corporation domesticated in the Republic of The Marshall Islands on October 7, 2005, under the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act, after having been incorporated as a Liberian company in 1998 in connection with the consolidation of our assets under Danaos Holdings Limited. In connection with our domestication in the Marshall Islands we changed our name from Danaos Holdings Limited to Danaos Corporation. Our manager, Danaos Shipping Company Limited, or Danaos Shipping, was founded by Dimitris Coustas in 1972 and since that time it has continuously provided seaborne transportation services under the management of the
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Coustas family. Dr. John Coustas, our chief executive officer, assumed responsibility for our management in 1987. Dr. Coustas has focused our business on chartering containerships to liner companies and has overseen the expansion of our fleet from three multi-purpose vessels in 1987 to the 52 containerships comprising our fleet as of March 31, 2011. In October 2006, we completed an initial public offering of our common stock in the United States and our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. In August 2010, we completed a common stock sale of 54,054,055 shares for $200 million and in March 2011 we agreed to issue 15 million warrants to purchase shares of our common stock, of which 14,925,130 had been issued as of the date of this annual report with the remaining 74,870 warrants expected to be issued later in 2011. Our principal executive offices are c/o Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd., 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece. Our telephone number at that address is +30 210 419 6480.
Our company operates through a number of subsidiaries incorporated in Liberia and Cyprus, all of which are wholly-owned by us and either directly or indirectly owns the vessels in our fleet. A list of our active subsidiaries as of March 31, 2011, and their jurisdictions of incorporation, is set forth in Exhibit 8 to this annual report on Form 20-F.
Business Overview
We are an international owner of containerships, chartering our vessels to many of the world's largest liner companies. As of March 31, 2011, we had a fleet of 52 containerships aggregating 233,429 TEUs, making us among the largest containership charter owners in the world, based on total TEU capacity. Our strategy is to charter our containerships under multi-year, fixed-rate period charters to a diverse group of liner companies, including many of the largest such companies globally, as measured by TEU capacity. As of March 31, 2011, these customers included China Shipping, CMA-CGM, Hanjin, Hyundai, Maersk, MISC, MSC, SCI, The Containership Company ("TCC"), TS Lines, Yang Ming and ZIM Israel Integrated Shipping Services. We believe our containerships provide us with contracted stable cash flows as they are deployed under multi-year, fixed-rate charters that range from less than one to 18 years for vessels in our current fleet and our contracted newbuilding vessels.
Our Fleet
General
We deploy our containership fleet principally under multi-year charters with major liner companies that operate regularly scheduled routes between large commercial ports. As of March 31, 2011, our containership fleet was comprised of 52 containerships deployed on time charters. The average age (weighted by TEU) of the 52 vessels in our containership fleet was approximately 8.25 years as of March 31, 2011 and, upon delivery of all of our contracted vessels as of the end of the second quarter of 2012, the average age (weighted by TEU) of the 65 vessels in our containership fleet (assuming no other acquisitions or dispositions) will be approximately 6.3 years. As of March 31, 2011, the average remaining duration of the charters for our containership fleet, including our 13 contracted newbuilding vessels for each of which we have arranged charters, was 10.9 years (weighted by aggregate contracted charter hire).
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Characteristics
The table below provides additional information about our fleet of 52 cellular containerships as of March 31, 2011.
Vessel Name
|
Year Built | Vessel Size (TEU) | Time Charter Term(1) | Expiration of Charter(1) | Charterer | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Post-Panamax |
|||||||||||||
Hanjin Germany |
2011 | 10,100 | 12 years | March 2023 | Hanjin | ||||||||
CSCL Le Havre |
2006 | 9,580 | 12 years | September 2018 | China Shipping | ||||||||
CSCL Pusan |
2006 | 9,580 | 12 years | July 2018 | China Shipping | ||||||||
CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic)(2) |
2004 | 8,468 | 12 years | September 2016 | China Shipping | ||||||||
CSCL Europe |
2004 | 8,468 | 12 years | June 2016 | China Shipping | ||||||||
CMA CGM Moliere(3) |
2009 | 6,500 | 12 years | August 2021 | CMA-CGM | ||||||||
CMA CGM Musset(3) |
2010 | 6,500 | 12 years | February 2022 | CMA-CGM | ||||||||
CMA CGM Nerval(3) |
2010 | 6,500 | 12 years | April 2022 | CMA-CGM | ||||||||
CMA CGM Rabelais(3) |
2010 | 6,500 | 12 years | June 2022 | CMA-CGM | ||||||||
CMA CGM Racine(3) |
2010 | 6,500 | 12 years | July 2022 | CMA-CGM | ||||||||
Hyundai Commodore (ex MOL Affinity)(4) |
1992 | 4,651 | 10 years | March 2013 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Duke |
1992 | 4,651 | 10 years | February 2013 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Federal (ex APL Confidence)(5) |
1994 | 4,651 | 6.5 years | September 2012 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Panamax |
|||||||||||||
Marathonas (ex MSC Marathon)(6) |
1991 | 4,814 | 5 years | September 2011 | Maersk | ||||||||
Maersk Messologi |
1991 | 4,814 | 5 years | September 2011 | Maersk | ||||||||
Maersk Mytilini |
1991 | 4,814 | 5 years | September 2011 | Maersk | ||||||||
YM Colombo (ex Norasia Integra)(7) |
2004 | 4,300 | 12 years | March 2019 | Yang Ming | ||||||||
YM Singapore (ex Norasia Atria)(8) |
2004 | 4,300 | 12 years | October 2019 | Yang Ming | ||||||||
YM Seattle |
2007 | 4,253 | 12 years | July 2019 | Yang Ming | ||||||||
YM Vancouver |
2007 | 4,253 | 12 years | September 2019 | Yang Ming | ||||||||
ZIM Rio Grande |
2008 | 4,253 | 12 years | May 2020 | ZIM | ||||||||
ZIM Sao Paolo |
2008 | 4,253 | 12 years | August 2020 | ZIM | ||||||||
ZIM Kingston |
2008 | 4,253 | 12 years | September 2020 | ZIM | ||||||||
ZIM Monaco |
2009 | 4,253 | 12 years | November 2020 | ZIM | ||||||||
ZIM Dalian |
2009 | 4,253 | 12 years | February 2021 | ZIM | ||||||||
ZIM Luanda |
2009 | 4,253 | 12 years | May 2021 | ZIM | ||||||||
Bunga Raya Tiga (ex Maersk Derby)(9) |
2004 | 4,253 | 2 years | February 2014 | MISC | ||||||||
Deva (ex Bunga Raya Tujuh)(10) |
2004 | 4,253 | 9 years | December 2013 | Maersk | ||||||||
M/V Honour (ex Al Rayyan)(11) |
1989 | 3,908 | 1 year | January 2012 | MSC | ||||||||
YM Yantian |
1989 | 3,908 | 5 years | July 2011 | Yang Ming | ||||||||
Hanjin Buenos Aires |
2010 | 3,400 | 10 years | March 2020 | Hanjin | ||||||||
SCI Pride (ex YM Milano)(17) |
1988 | 3,129 | 2 years | July 2012 | SCI | ||||||||
Lotus (ex CMA CGM Lotus)(12) |
1988 | 3,098 | 1 year | June 2011 | MSC | ||||||||
Independence (ex CMA CGM Vanille)(13) |
1986 | 3,045 | 1 year | October 2011 | MSC | ||||||||
Henry (ex CMA CGM Passiflore)(14) |
1986 | 3,039 | 1 year | July 2011 | TSL | ||||||||
Jiangsu Dragon(ex CMA CGM Elbe)(18) |
1991 | 2,917 | 1 year | June 2011 | TCC | ||||||||
California Dragon (ex CMA CGM Kalamata)(19) |
1991 | 2,917 | 1 year | June 2011 | TCC | ||||||||
Shenzhen Dragon (ex CMA CGM Komodo)(20) |
1991 | 2,917 | 1 year | June 2011 | TCC | ||||||||
Hyundai Advance |
1997 | 2,200 | 10 years | June 2017 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Future |
1997 | 2,200 | 10 years | August 2017 | Hyundai | ||||||||
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Vessel Name
|
Year Built | Vessel Size (TEU) | Time Charter Term(1) | Expiration of Charter(1) | Charterer | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hyundai Sprinter |
1997 | 2,200 | 10 years | August 2017 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Stride |
1997 | 2,200 | 10 years | July 2017 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Progress |
1998 | 2,200 | 10 years | December 2017 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Bridge |
1998 | 2,200 | 10 years | January 2018 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Highway |
1998 | 2,200 | 10 years | January 2018 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hyundai Vladivostok |
1997 | 2,200 | 10 years | May 2017 | Hyundai | ||||||||
Hanjin Montreal (ex Montreal Senator)(15) |
1984 | 2,130 | 4 years | March 2012 | Hanjin | ||||||||
Hanjin Santos |
2010 | 3,400 | 10 years | May 2020 | Hanjin | ||||||||
Hanjin Versailles |
2010 | 3,400 | 10 years | August 2020 | Hanjin | ||||||||
Hanjin Algeciras |
2011 | 3,400 | 10 years | November 2020 | Hanjin | ||||||||
Bareboat Charter Term(1) |
|||||||||||||
YM Mandate |
2010 | 6,500 | 18 years | January 2028 | Yang Ming | ||||||||
YM Maturity |
2010 | 6,500 | 18 years | April 2028 | Yang Ming | ||||||||
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Our contracted vessels are being built based upon designs from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. Limited ("Hyundai Samho"), Hanjin and Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry Company Limited ("Shanghai Jiangnan"). In some cases designs are enhanced by us and our manager, Danaos Shipping, in consultation with the charterers of the vessels and two classification societies, Det Norske Veritas and the Lloyds Register of Shipping. These designs, which include certain technological advances and customized modifications, make the containerships efficient with respect to both voyage speed and loading capability when compared to many vessels operating in the containership sector.
The specifications of our 13 contracted vessels under construction as of March 31, 2011 are as follows:
Name
|
Year Built |
Vessel Size (TEU) |
Shipyard | Expected Delivery Period |
Time Charter Term(1) |
Charterer | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hull No. S-462(3) |
2011 | 10,100 | Hyundai Samho | 2nd Quarter 2011 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
Hull No. S-463 |
2011 | 10,100 | Hyundai Samho | 2nd Quarter 2011 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
HN N-223 |
2011 | 3,400 | Hanjin | 2nd Quarter 2011 | 10 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
HN Z00001 |
2011 | 8,530 | Shanghai Jiangnan | 2nd Quarter 2011 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
HN Z00002 |
2011 | 8,530 | Shanghai Jiangnan | 3rd Quarter 2011 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
HN Z00003 |
2011 | 8,530 | Shanghai Jiangnan | 3rd Quarter 2011 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
HN Z00004 |
2011 | 8,530 | Shanghai Jiangnan | 3rd Quarter 2011 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
HULL 1022A |
2011 | 8,530 | Shanghai Jiangnan | 4th Quarter 2011 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
Hull No. S-456 |
2012 | 12,600 | Hyundai Samho | 1st Quarter 2012 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
Hull No. S-457 |
2012 | 12,600 | Hyundai Samho | 1st Quarter 2012 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
Hull No. S-458 |
2012 | 12,600 | Hyundai Samho | 2nd Quarter 2012 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
Hull No. S-459 |
2012 | 12,600 | Hyundai Samho | 2nd Quarter 2012 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
Hull No. S-460 |
2012 | 12,600 | Hyundai Samho | 2nd Quarter 2012 | 12 years | n/a | (2) | |||||||||
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Charterers
As the container shipping industry has grown, the major liner companies have increasingly contracted for containership capacity. As of March 31, 2011, our diverse group of customers in the containership sector included China Shipping, CMA-CGM, Hanjin, Hyundai, Maersk, MISC, MSC, SCI, The Containership Company ("TCC"), TS Lines, Yang Ming and ZIM Israel Integrated Shipping Services. In addition, we have arranged time charters ranging from 10 to 12 years with CMA-CGM and two other accredited charterers for our contracted vessels.
The containerships in our combined containership fleet are or, upon their delivery to us, will be deployed under multi-year, fixed-rate time charters having initial terms that range from less than one to 18 years. These charters expire at staggered dates ranging from the second quarter of 2011 to the second quarter of 2028, with no more than 12 scheduled to expire in any 12-month period. The staggered expiration of the multi-year, fixed-rate charters for our vessels is both a strategy pursued by our management and a result of the growth in our fleet over the past several years. Under our time charters, the charterer pays voyage expenses such as port, canal and fuel costs, other than brokerage and address commissions paid by us, and we pay for vessel operating expenses, which include crew costs, provisions, deck and engine stores, lubricating oil, insurance, maintenance and repairs. We are also responsible for each vessel's intermediate and special survey costs.
Under the time charters, when a vessel is "off-hire" or not available for service, the charterer is generally not required to pay the hire rate, and we are responsible for all costs. A vessel generally will be deemed to be off-hire if there is an occurrence preventing the full working of the vessel due to, among other things, operational deficiencies, drydockings for repairs, maintenance or inspection, equipment breakdown, delays due to accidents, crewing strikes, labor boycotts, noncompliance with government water pollution regulations or alleged oil spills, arrests or seizures by creditors or our failure to maintain the vessel in compliance with required specifications and standards. In addition, under our time charters, if any vessel is off-hire for more than a certain amount of time (generally between 10-20 days), the charterer has a right to terminate the charter agreement for that vessel. Charterers also have the right to terminate the time charters in various other circumstances, including but not limited to, outbreaks of war or a change in ownership of the vessel's owner or manager without the charterer's approval.
Leasing ArrangementsCSCL Europe, CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic), Bunga Raya Tiga (ex Maersk Derby), Deva (ex Bunga Raya Tujuh), CSCL Pusan (ex HN 1559) and CSCL Le Havre (ex HN 1561)
On March 7, 2008, we exercised our right to have our wholly-owned subsidiaries replace a subsidiary of Lloyds Bank as direct owners of the CSCL Europe, the CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic), the Bunga Raya Tiga (ex Maersk Derby), the Deva (ex Bunga Raya Tujuh) , the CSCL Pusan (ex HN 1559) and the CSCL Le Havre (ex HN 1561) pursuant to the terms of the leasing arrangements, as restructured on October 5, 2007, we had in place with such subsidiaries of Lloyds Bank, Allco Finance Limited, a U.K.-based financing company, and Allco Finance UK Limited, a U.K.-based financing company. We had during the course of these leasing arrangements and continue to have full operational control over these vessels and we consider each of these vessels to be an asset for our financial reporting purposes and each vessel is reflected as such in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein.
On July 19, 2006, legislation was enacted in the United Kingdom that would have resulted in a claw-back or recapture of certain of the benefits that were expected to be available to the counterparties to the original leasing transactions at their inception. Accordingly, the put option price that was part of the original leasing arrangements would have been increased to compensate the counterparties for the loss of these benefits. In 2006 we recognized an expense of $12.8 million, which
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is the amount by which we expected the increase in the put price to exceed the cash benefits we had expected to receive, and had expected to retain, from these transactions. The October 5, 2007 restructuring of these leasing arrangements eliminated this put option and the $12.8 million expense recorded in 2006, was reversed and recognized in earnings in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Purchase Options
The charters with respect to the CMA CGM Moliere, the CMA CGM Musset, the CMA CGM Nerval, the HN CMA CGM Rabelais and the CMA CGM Racine include an option for the charterer, CMA-CGM, to purchase the vessels eight years after the commencement of the respective charters, which, based on the respective expected delivery dates for these vessels, are expected to fall in September 2017, March 2018, May 2018, July 2018 and August 2018, respectively, each for $78.0 million. In each case, the option to purchase the vessel must be exercised 15 months prior to the acquisition dates described in the preceding sentence. The $78.0 million option prices reflect an estimate of the fair market value of the vessels at the time we would be required to sell the vessels upon exercise of the options. If CMA-CGM were to exercise these options with respect to any or all of these vessels, the expected size of our combined containership fleet would be reduced, and as a result our anticipated level of revenues after such sale would be reduced.
Pursuant to the exercises of similar options, contained in the respective charters, to purchase the APL England, the APL Scotland, the APL Holland and the APL Belgium, we delivered such vessels to their charterer, APL-NOL, on March 7, 2007, June 22, 2007, August 3, 2007 and January 15, 2008, respectively, each for $44.5 million.
Discontinued Drybulk Operations
In August 2006, we agreed to sell the six drybulk carriers in our fleet, with an aggregate capacity of 342,158 dwt, for an aggregate of $143.5 million. In the first quarter of 2007, we delivered five of these vessels to the purchaser, which is not affiliated with us, for an aggregate of $118.0 million and the remaining vessel to the purchaser for $25.5 million when its charter expired in the second quarter of 2007.
Management of Our Fleet
Our chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, deputy chief financial officer and deputy chief operating officer provide strategic management for our company while these officers also supervise, in conjunction with our board of directors, the management of these operations by Danaos Shipping, our manager. We have a management agreement pursuant to which our manager and its affiliates provide us and our subsidiaries with technical, administrative and certain commercial services for an initial term that expired on December 31, 2008, with automatic one year renewals for an additional 12 years at our option. On February 12, 2009, we signed an addendum to the management contract changing the management fees we pay, effective January 1, 2009 and, on February 8, 2010, we signed an addendum to the management contract adjusting the management fees, effective January 1, 2010. Our manager reports to us and our board of directors through our chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief financial officer.
Our manager is regarded as an innovator in operational and technological aspects in the international shipping community. Danaos Shipping's strong technological capabilities derive from employing highly educated professionals, its participation and assumption of a leading role in European Community research projects related to shipping, and its close affiliation to Danaos Management Consultants, a leading ship-management software and services company. Danaos Management Consultants provides software services to two of our charterers, CMA-CGM and Maersk.
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Danaos Shipping achieved early ISM certification of its container fleet in 1995, well ahead of the deadline, and was the first Greek company to receive such certification from Det Norske Veritas, a leading classification society. In 2004, Danaos Shipping received the Lloyd's List Technical Innovation Award for advances in internet-based telecommunication methods for vessels. Danaos Shipping maintains the quality of its service by controlling directly the selection and employment of seafarers through its crewing offices in Piraeus, Greece as well as in Odessa and Mariupol in the Ukraine. Investments in new facilities in Greece by Danaos Shipping enable enhanced training of seafarers and highly reliable infrastructure and services to the vessels.
Historically, Danaos Shipping only infrequently managed vessels other than those in our fleet and currently it does not actively manage any other company's vessels other than providing certain management services to Castella Shipping Inc., in which our chief executive officer has an investment. Danaos Shipping also does not arrange the employment of other vessels and has agreed that, during the term of our management agreement, it will not provide any management services to any other entity without our prior written approval, other than with respect to Castella Shipping Inc. and other entities controlled by Dr. Coustas, our chief executive officer, which do not operate within the containership (larger than 2,500 TEUs) or drybulk sectors of the shipping industry or in the circumstances described below. Other than Castella Shipping Inc., Dr. Coustas does not currently control any such vessel-owning entity. We believe we will derive significant benefits from our exclusive relationship with Danaos Shipping.
Dr. Coustas has also personally agreed to the same restrictions on the provision, directly or indirectly, of management services during the term of our management agreement. In addition, our chief executive officer (other than in his capacities with us) and our manager have separately agreed not, during the term of our management agreement and for one year thereafter, to engage, directly or indirectly, in (i) the ownership or operation of containerships of larger than 2,500 TEUs or (ii) the ownership or operation of any drybulk carriers or (iii) the acquisition of or investment in any business involved in the ownership or operation of containerships of larger than 2,500 TEUs or any drybulk carriers. Notwithstanding these restrictions, if our independent directors decline the opportunity to acquire any such containerships or to acquire or invest in any such business, our chief executive officer will have the right to make, directly or indirectly, any such acquisition or investment during the four-month period following such decision by our independent directors, so long as such acquisition or investment is made on terms no more favorable than those offered to us. In this case, our chief executive officer and our manager will be permitted to provide management services to such vessels.
Danaos Shipping manages our fleet under a management agreement whose initial term expired at the end of 2008. The management agreement automatically renews for a one-year periods if we do not provide 12 months' notice of termination. During the initial term of the management agreement, for providing its commercial, chartering and administrative services our manager received a fee of $500 per day and for its technical management of our ships, our manager received a management fee of $250 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $500 per vessel per day for the remaining vessels in our fleet, each pro rated for the number of calendar days we own each vessel. These fees are now adjusted annually by agreement between us and our manager. For its chartering services rendered to us by its Hamburg-based office, our manager also receives a commission of 0.75% on all freight, charter hire, ballast bonus and demurrage for each vessel. Further, our manager receives a commission of 0.5% based on the contract price of any vessel bought or sold by it on our behalf, excluding newbuilding contracts. We also paid our manager a flat fee of $400,000 per newbuilding vessel, which we capitalized, for the on premises supervision of our newbuilding contracts by selected engineers and others of its staff.
On February 12, 2009, we signed an addendum to the management contract adjusting the management fees, effective January 1, 2009, to a fee of $575 per day for commercial, chartering and administrative services, a fee of $290 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $575 per
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vessel per day for vessels on time charter and a flat fee of $725,000 per newbuilding vessel for the supervision of newbuilding contracts. All commissions to the manager remained unchanged.
On February 8, 2010, we signed an addendum to the management contract adjusting the management fees, effective January 1, 2010, to a fee of $675 per day for commercial, chartering and administrative services, a fee of $340 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $675 per vessel per day for vessels on time charter. All commissions to the manager remained unchanged.
Competition
We operate in markets that are highly competitive and based primarily on supply and demand. Generally, we compete for charters based upon price, customer relationships, operating expertise, professional reputation and size, age and condition of the vessel. Competition for providing containership services comes from a number of experienced shipping companies. In the containership sector, these companies include Zodiac Maritime, Seaspan Corporation and Costamare Inc. A number of our competitors in the containership sector have been financed by the German KG (Kommanditgesellschaft) system, which was based on tax benefits provided to private investors. While the German tax law has been amended to significantly restrict the tax benefits available to taxpayers who invest after November 10, 2005, the tax benefits afforded to all investors in the KG-financed entities will continue to be significant and such entities will continue to be attractive investments. These tax benefits allow these KG-financed entities to be more flexible in offering lower charter rates to liner companies.
The containership sector of the international shipping industry is characterized by the significant time necessary to develop the operating expertise and professional reputation necessary to obtain and retain customers and, in the past a relative scarcity of secondhand containerships, which necessitated reliance on newbuildings which can take a number of years to complete. We focus on larger TEU capacity containerships, which we believe have fared better than smaller vessels during global downturns in the containership sector. We believe larger containerships, even older containerships if well maintained, provide us with increased flexibility and more stable cash flows than smaller TEU capacity containerships.
Crewing and Employees
We have four shore-based employees, our chief executive officer, our chief financial officer, our chief operating officer and our deputy chief financial officer, and have a services agreement with our deputy chief operating officer. As of December 31, 2010, 1,099 people served on board the vessels in our fleet and Danaos Shipping, our manager, employed approximately 125 people, all of whom were shore-based. In addition, our manager is responsible for recruiting, either directly or through a crewing agent, the senior officers and all other crew members for our vessels and is reimbursed by us for all crew wages and other crew relating expenses. We believe the streamlining of crewing arrangements through our manager ensures that all of our vessels will be crewed with experienced crews that have the qualifications and licenses required by international regulations and shipping conventions.
Permits and Authorizations
We are required by various governmental and other agencies to obtain certain permits, licenses and certificates with respect to our vessels. The kinds of permits, licenses and certificates required by governmental and other agencies depend upon several factors, including the commodity being transported, the waters in which the vessel operates, the nationality of the vessel's crew and the age of a vessel. All permits, licenses and certificates currently required to permit our vessels to operate have been obtained. Additional laws and regulations, environmental or otherwise, may be adopted which could limit our ability to do business or increase the cost of doing business.
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Inspection by Classification Societies
Every seagoing vessel must be "classed" by a classification society. The classification society certifies that the vessel is "in class," signifying that the vessel has been built and maintained in accordance with the rules of the classification society and complies with applicable rules and regulations of the vessel's country of registry and the international conventions of which that country is a member. In addition, where surveys are required by international conventions and corresponding laws and ordinances of a flag state, the classification society will undertake them on application or by official order, acting on behalf of the authorities concerned.
The classification society also undertakes on request other surveys and checks that are required by regulations and requirements of the flag state. These surveys are subject to agreements made in each individual case and /or to the regulations of the country concerned.
For maintenance of the class, regular and extraordinary surveys of hull and machinery, including the electrical plant, and any special equipment classed are required to be performed as follows:
Annual Surveys. For seagoing ships, annual surveys are conducted for the hull and the machinery, including the electrical plant, and where applicable, on special equipment classed at intervals of 12 months from the date of commencement of the class period indicated in the certificate.
Intermediate Surveys. Extended annual surveys are referred to as intermediate surveys and typically are conducted two and one-half years after commissioning and each class renewal. Intermediate surveys may be carried out on the occasion of the second or third annual survey.
Class Renewal Surveys. Class renewal surveys, also known as special surveys, are carried out on the ship's hull and machinery, including the electrical plant, and on any special equipment classed at the intervals indicated by the character of classification for the hull. During the special survey, the vessel is thoroughly examined, including audio-gauging to determine the thickness of the steel structures. Should the thickness be found to be less than class requirements, the classification society would prescribe steel renewals. The classification society may grant a one-year grace period for completion of the special survey. Substantial amounts of funds may have to be spent for steel renewals to pass a special survey if the vessel experiences excessive wear and tear. In lieu of the special survey every four or five years, depending on whether a grace period is granted, a shipowner has the option of arranging with the classification society for the vessel's hull or machinery to be on a continuous survey cycle, in which every part of the vessel would be surveyed within a five-year cycle. At an owner's application, the surveys required for class renewal may be split according to an agreed schedule to extend over the entire period of class. This process is referred to as continuous class renewal.
The following table lists the next drydockings and special surveys scheduled for the vessels in our current containership fleet:
Vessel Name
|
Next Survey | Next Drydocking | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanjin Montreal | June 2012 | April 2011 | ||
| Maersk Mytilini | March 2013 | April 2011 | ||
| Hyundai Commodore | June 2012 | July 2011 | ||
| Jiangsu Dragon | August 2011 | August 2011 | ||
| Shenzhen Dragon | August 2011 | August 2011 | ||
| CSCL Pusan | November 2011 | September 2011 | ||
| CSCL Le Havre | November 2011 | November 2011 | ||
| Marathonas | June 2012 | April 2012 | ||
| Hyundai Vladivostok | July 2012 | July 2012 | ||
| Hyundai Federal | July 2012 | July 2012 | ||
| Hyundai Advance | October 2012 | July 2012 |
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Vessel Name
|
Next Survey | Next Drydocking | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Stride | September 2012 | September 2012 | ||
| YM Seattle | September 2012 | September 2012 | ||
| Hyundai Future | September 2012 | September 2012 | ||
| YM Vancouver | November 2012 | November 2012 | ||
| Hyundai Sprinter | December 2012 | December 2012 | ||
| Hyundai Progress | May 2011 | February 2013 | ||
| Hyundai Highway | June 2011 | March 2013 | ||
| Hyundai Bridge | March 2013 | March 2013 | ||
| Zim Rio Grande | October 2011 | July 2013 | ||
| California Dragon | June 2013 | July 2013 | ||
| Lotus | April 2014 | July 2013 | ||
| SCI Pride | August 2013 | August 2013 | ||
| Henry | October 2011 | August 2013 | ||
| Zim Sao Paolo | December 2011 | September 2013 | ||
| Independence | March 2014 | October 2013 | ||
| Hyundai Duke | October 2012 | October 2013 | ||
| Zim Kingston | February 2012 | November 2013 | ||
| Zim Monaco | April 2012 | January 2014 | ||
| CSCL Europe | November 2011 | February 2014 | ||
| Deva | June 2012 | February 2014 | ||
| Honour | February 2012 | February 2014 | ||
| YM Yantian | October 2012 | February 2014 | ||
| YM Colombo | June 2012 | March 2014 | ||
| Zim Dalian | June 2012 | March 2014 | ||
| Bunga Raya Tiga | July 2012 | April 2014 | ||
| Zim Luanda | September 2012 | June 2014 | ||
| CSCL America | February 2012 | August 2014 | ||
| CMA CGM Moliere | December 2012 | September 2014 | ||
| YM Singapore | December 2012 | September 2014 | ||
| CMA CGM Musset | June 2013 | March 2015 | ||
| CMA CGM Nerval | August 2013 | May 2015 | ||
| Hanjin Buenos Aires | August 2013 | May 2015 | ||
| CMA CGM Rabelais | October 2013 | July 2015 | ||
| Hanjin Santos | October 2013 | July 2015 | ||
| CMA CGM Racine | November 2013 | August 2015 | ||
| Hanjin Versailles | January 2014 | October 2015 | ||
| Hanjin Algeciras | April 2014 | January 2016 | ||
| Maersk Messologi | February 2014 | February 2016 | ||
| Hanjin Germany | June 2014 | March 2016 |
All areas subject to surveys as defined by the classification society are required to be surveyed at least once per class period, unless shorter intervals between surveys are otherwise prescribed. The period between two subsequent surveys of each area must not exceed five years. Vessels under bareboat charter, such as the YM Mandate, and YM Maturity, are drydocked by their charterers.
Most vessels are also drydocked every 30 to 36 months for inspection of their underwater parts and for repairs related to such inspections. If any defects are found, the classification surveyor will issue a "recommendation" which must be rectified by the ship-owner within prescribed time limits.
Most insurance underwriters make it a condition for insurance coverage that a vessel be certified as "in class" by a classification society which is a member of the International Association of
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Classification Societies. All of our vessels are certified as being "in class" by Lloyds Register of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, NKK, Det Norske Veritas, the American Bureau of Shipping or RINA SpA.
Risk of Loss and Liability Insurance
General
The operation of any vessel includes risks such as mechanical failure, collision, property loss, cargo loss or damage and business interruption due to political circumstances in foreign countries, hostilities and labor strikes. In addition, there is always an inherent possibility of marine disaster, including oil spills and other environmental mishaps, and the liabilities arising from owning and operating vessels in international trade. The U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or OPA, which imposes virtually unlimited liability upon owners, operators and demise charterers of vessels trading in the United States exclusive economic zone for certain oil pollution accidents in the United States, has made liability insurance more expensive for shipowners and operators trading in the United States market.
While we maintain hull and machinery insurance, war risks insurance, protection and indemnity coverage for our containership fleet in amounts that we believe to be prudent to cover normal risks in our operations, we may not be able to maintain this level of coverage throughout a vessel's useful life. Furthermore, while we believe that our insurance coverage will be adequate, not all risks can be insured, and there can be no guarantee that any specific claim will be paid, or that we will always be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at reasonable rates.
Dr. John Coustas, our chief executive officer, is a member of the Board of Directors of The Swedish Club, our primary provider of insurance, including a substantial portion of our hull & machinery, war risk and protection and indemnity insurance.
Hull & Machinery, Loss of Hire and War Risks Insurance
We maintain marine hull and machinery and war risks insurance, which covers the risk of particular average, general average, 4/4ths collision liability, contact with fixed and floating objects (FFO) and actual or constructive total loss in accordance with Swedish conditions for all of our vessels. Our vessels will each be covered up to at least their fair market value after meeting certain deductibles per incident per vessel.
We carry a minimum loss of hire coverage only with respect to the CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic), the CSCL Europe, the CSCL Pusan (ex HN 1559) and the CSCL Le Havre (ex HN 1561) to cover standard requirements of KEXIM, the bank providing financing for our acquisition of these vessels. We do not and will not obtain loss of hire insurance covering the loss of revenue during extended off-hire periods for the other vessels in our fleet because we believe that this type of coverage is not economical and is of limited value to us, in part because historically our fleet has had a very limited number of off-hire days.
Protection and Indemnity Insurance
Protection and indemnity ("P&I") insurance covers our third-party and crew liabilities in connection with our shipping activities. This includes third-party liability, crew liability and other related expenses resulting from the injury or death of crew, passengers and other third parties, the loss or damage to cargo, third-party claims arising from collisions with other vessels, damage to other third-party property, pollution arising from oil or other substances and salvage, towing and other related costs, including wreck removal. Our protection and indemnity insurance, other than our 4/4ths collision and FFO insurance (which is covered under our hull insurance policy), is provided by mutual protection and indemnity associations, or P&I associations. Insurance provided by P&I associations is a form of mutual indemnity insurance. Unless otherwise provided by the international conventions that
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limit the liability of shipowners and subject to the "capping" discussed below, our coverage under insurance provided by the P&I associations, except for pollution, will be unlimited.
Our protection and indemnity insurance coverage in accordance with the International Group of P&I Club Agreement for pollution will be $1.0 billion per vessel per incident. Our P&I Excess war risk coverage limit is $500.0 million and in respect of certain war and terrorist risks the liabilities arising from Bio-Chem etc, the limit is $30.0 million, with a sub-limit of $2.0 billion for passenger claims only. The fourteen P&I associations that comprise the International Group insure approximately 90% of the world's commercial blue-water tonnage and have entered into a pooling agreement to reinsure each association's liabilities. As a member of a P&I association that is a member of the International Group, we will be subject to calls payable to the associations based on the International Group's claim records as well as the claim records of all other members of the individual associations.
Environmental and Other Regulations
Government regulation significantly affects the ownership and operation of our vessels. They are subject to international conventions, national, state and local laws, regulations and standards in force in international waters and the countries in which our vessels may operate or are registered, including those governing the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of oil spills and other contamination, air emissions, wastewater discharges and ballast water management. These laws and regulations include the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the U.S. Clean Water Act, the International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships, regulations adopted by the IMO and the European Union, various volatile organic compound air emission requirements and various Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) amendments, as well as other regulations described below. Compliance with these laws, regulations and other requirements entails significant expense, including vessel modifications and implementation of certain operating procedures.
A variety of governmental and private entities subject our vessels to both scheduled and unscheduled inspections. These entities include the local port authorities (U.S. Coast Guard, harbor master or equivalent), classification societies, flag state administration (country of registry), charterers and, particularly, terminal operators. Certain of these entities require us to obtain permits, licenses, certificates and financial assurances for the operation of our vessels. Failure to maintain necessary permits or approvals could require us to incur substantial costs or result in the temporary suspension of operation of one or more of our vessels.
We believe that the heightened level of environmental and quality concerns among insurance underwriters, regulators and charterers is leading to greater inspection and safety requirements on all vessels and may accelerate the scrapping of older vessels throughout the industry. Increasing environmental concerns have created a demand for vessels that conform to the stricter environmental standards. We are required to maintain operating standards for all of our vessels that will emphasize operational safety, quality maintenance, continuous training of our officers and crews and compliance with U.S. and international regulations. We believe that the operation of our vessels is in substantial compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations. However, because such laws and regulations are frequently changed and may impose increasingly stricter requirements, such future requirements may limit our ability to do business, increase our operating costs, force the early retirement of our vessels, and/or affect their resale value, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, a future serious marine incident that causes significant adverse environmental impact, such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, could result in additional legislation or regulation that could negatively affect our profitability.
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Environmental RegulationInternational Maritime Organization ("IMO")
Our vessels are subject to standards imposed by the IMO (the United Nations agency for maritime safety and the prevention of pollution by ships). The IMO has adopted regulations that are designed to reduce pollution in international waters, both from accidents and from routine operations. These regulations address oil discharges, ballasting and unloading operations, sewage, garbage, and air emissions. For example, Annex III of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or MARPOL, regulates the transportation of marine pollutants, and imposes standards on packing, marking, labeling, documentation, stowage, quantity limitations and pollution prevention. These requirements have been expanded by the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, which imposes additional standards for all aspects of the transportation of dangerous goods and marine pollutants by sea.
In September 1997, the IMO adopted Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships to address air pollution from vessels. Annex VI, which came into effect on May 19, 2005, sets limits on sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from vessel exhausts and prohibits deliberate emissions of ozone depleting substances, such as chlorofluorocarbons. Annex VI also includes a global cap on the sulfur content of fuel oil and allows for special areas to be established with more stringent controls on sulfur emissions. Annex VI has been ratified by some, but not all IMO member states, including the Marshall Islands. Pursuant to a Marine Notice issued by the Marshall Islands Maritime Administrator as revised in March 2005, vessels flagged by the Marshall Islands that are subject to Annex VI must, if built before the effective date, obtain an International Air Pollution Prevention Certificate evidencing compliance with Annex VI by the first dry docking after May 19, 2005, but no later than May 19, 2008. All vessels subject to Annex VI and built after May 19, 2005 must also have this Certificate. We have obtained International Air Pollution Prevention certificates for all of our vessels. Amendments to Annex VI regarding particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxide emission standards entered into force in July 2010. The amendments provide for a progressive reduction in sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions from ships, with the global sulfur cap reduced initially to 3.50% (from the current 4.50%), effective from 1 January 2012; then progressively to 0.50%, effective from 1 January 2020, subject to a feasibility review to be completed no later than 2018. The Annex VI amendments also establish tiers of stringent nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions standards for new marine engines, depending on their dates of installation. The United States ratified the amendments, and all vessels subject to Annex VI must comply with the amended requirements when entering U.S. ports or operating in U.S. waters. Additionally, more stringent emission standards apply in coastal areas designated by MEPC as Emission Control Areas (ECAs), such as the recently designated area extending 200 nautical miles from the Atlantic/Gulf and Pacific Coasts of the United States and Canada, the Hawaiian Islands, and the French territories of St. Pierre and Miquelon. We may incur costs to install control equipment on our engines in order to comply with the new requirements. Other ECAs may be designated, and the jurisdictions in which our vessels operate may adopt more stringent emission standards independent of IMO.
The operation of our vessels is also affected by the requirements set forth in the IMO's International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention, or the ISM Code, which was adopted in July 1998. The ISM Code requires shipowners and bareboat charterers to develop and maintain an extensive "Safety Management System" that includes the adoption of a safety and environmental protection policy setting forth instructions and procedures for safe operation and describing procedures for dealing with emergencies. The ISM Code requires that vessel operators obtain a Safety Management Certificate for each vessel they operate. This certificate evidences compliance by a vessel's management with code requirements for a Safety Management System. No vessel can obtain a certificate unless its operator has been awarded a document of compliance, issued by each flag state, under the ISM Code. The failure of a shipowner or bareboat charterer to comply with the ISM Code may subject such party to increased liability, decrease available insurance coverage
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for the affected vessels and result in a denial of access to, or detention in, certain ports. Currently, each of the vessels in our fleet is ISM code-certified. However, there can be no assurance that such certifications will be maintained indefinitely.
In 2001, the IMO adopted the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, or the Bunker Convention, which imposes strict liability on ship owners for pollution damage in jurisdictional waters of ratifying states caused by discharges of bunker oil. The Bunker Convention also requires registered owners of ships over a certain size to maintain insurance for pollution damage in an amount equal to the limits of liability under the applicable national or international limitation regime (but not exceeding the amount calculated in accordance with the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims of 1976, as amended). The Bunker Convention entered into force on November 21, 2008. Our entire fleet has been issued a certificate attesting that insurance is in force in accordance with the insurance provisions of the Convention.
Environmental RegulationThe U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 ("OPA")
OPA established an extensive regulatory and liability regime for the protection and cleanup of the environment from oil spills. It applies to discharges of any oil from a vessel, including discharges of fuel oil and lubricants. OPA affects all owners and operators whose vessels trade in the United States, its territories and possessions or whose vessels operate in U.S. waters, which include the United States' territorial sea and its two hundred nautical mile exclusive economic zone. While we do not carry oil as cargo, we do carry fuel oil (or bunkers) in our vessels, making our vessels subject to the OPA requirements.
Under OPA, vessel owners, operators and bareboat charterers are "responsible parties" and are jointly, severally and strictly liable (unless the discharge of pollutants results solely from the act or omission of a third party, an act of God or an act of war) for all containment and clean-up costs and other damages arising from discharges or threatened discharges of pollutants from their vessels. OPA defines these other damages broadly to include:
OPA preserves the right to recover damages under existing law, including maritime tort law.
Effective July 31, 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) increased the limits of OPA liability to the greater of $1000 per ton or $854,400 for non-tank vessels and established a procedure for adjusting the limits for inflation every three years. These limits of liability do not apply if an incident was directly caused by violation of applicable U.S. federal safety, construction or operating regulations or by a responsible party's gross negligence or willful misconduct, or if the responsible party fails or refuses to report the incident or to cooperate and assist in connection with oil removal activities.
OPA requires owners and operators of vessels to establish and maintain with the USCG evidence of financial responsibility sufficient to meet their potential liabilities under the OPA. Under the regulations, vessel owners and operators may evidence their financial responsibility by showing proof of insurance, surety bond, self-insurance, or guaranty, and an owner or operator of a fleet of vessels is required only to demonstrate evidence of financial responsibility in an amount sufficient to cover the vessels in the fleet having the greatest maximum liability under OPA.
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The USCG's regulations concerning certificates of financial responsibility provide, in accordance with OPA, that claimants may bring suit directly against an insurer or guarantor that furnishes certificates of financial responsibility. In the event that such insurer or guarantor is sued directly, it is prohibited from asserting any contractual defense that it may have had against the responsible party and is limited to asserting those defenses available to the responsible party and the defense that the incident was caused by the willful misconduct of the responsible party. Certain organizations, which had typically provided certificates of financial responsibility under pre-OPA 90 laws, including the major protection and indemnity organizations have declined to furnish evidence of insurance for vessel owners and operators if they are subject to direct actions or required to waive insurance policy defenses. This requirement may have the effect of limiting the availability of the type of coverage required by the USCG and could increase the costs of obtaining this insurance for us and our competitors.
The USCG's financial responsibility regulations may also be satisfied by evidence of surety bond, guaranty or by self-insurance. Under the self-insurance provisions, the shipowner or operator must have a net worth and working capital, measured in assets located in the United States against liabilities located anywhere in the world, that exceeds the applicable amount of financial responsibility. We have complied with the USCG regulations by providing a financial guaranty evidencing sufficient self-insurance.
OPA specifically permits individual states to impose their own liability regimes with regard to oil pollution incidents occurring within their boundaries, and some states have enacted legislation providing for unlimited liability for oil spills. In some cases, states, which have enacted such legislation, have not yet issued implementing regulations defining vessels owners' responsibilities under these laws. We intend to comply with all applicable state regulations in the ports where our vessels call.
We currently maintain, for each of our vessels, oil pollution liability coverage insurance in the amount of $1 billion per incident. In addition, we carry hull and machinery and protection and indemnity insurance to cover the risks of fire and explosion. Given the relatively small amount of bunkers our vessels carry, we believe that a spill of oil from the vessels would not be catastrophic. However, under certain circumstances, fire and explosion could result in a catastrophic loss. While we believe that our present insurance coverage is adequate, not all risks can be insured, and there can be no guarantee that any specific claim will be paid, or that we will always be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at reasonable rates. If the damages from a catastrophic spill exceeded our insurance coverage, it would have a severe effect on us and could possibly result in our insolvency.
Title VII of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004, or the CGMTA, amended OPA to require the owner or operator of any non-tank vessel of 400 gross tons or more, that carries oil of any kind as a fuel for main propulsion, including bunkers, to prepare and submit a response plan for each vessel on or before August 8, 2005. Previous law was limited to vessels that carry oil in bulk as cargo. The vessel response plans include detailed information on actions to be taken by vessel personnel to prevent or mitigate any discharge or substantial threat of such a discharge of oil from the vessel due to operational activities or casualties. We have approved response plans for each of our vessels.
Environmental RegulationCERCLA
CERCLA governs spills or releases of hazardous substances other than petroleum or petroleum products. The owner or operator of a ship, vehicle or facility from which there has been a release is liable without regard to fault for the release, and along with other specified parties may be jointly and severally liable for remedial costs. Costs recoverable under CERCLA include cleanup and removal costs, natural resource damages and governmental oversight costs. Liability under CERCLA is generally limited to the greater of $300 per gross ton or $0.5 million per vessel carrying non-hazardous substances ($5.0 million for vessels carrying hazardous substances), unless the incident is caused by
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gross negligence, willful misconduct or a violation of certain regulations, in which case liability is unlimited. The USCG's financial responsibility regulations under OPA also require vessels to provide evidence of financial responsibility for CERCLA liability in the amount of $300 per gross ton.
Environmental RegulationThe Clean Water Act
The U.S. Clean Water Act, or CWA, prohibits the discharge of oil or hazardous substances in navigable waters and imposes strict liability in the form of penalties for any unauthorized discharges. The CWA also imposes substantial liability for the costs of removal, remediation and damages and complements the remedies available under the more recent OPA and CERCLA, discussed above. Under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, regulations that took effect on February 6, 2009, we are required to obtain a CWA permit regulating and authorizing any discharges of ballast water or other wastewaters incidental to our normal vessel operations if we operate within the three-mile territorial waters or inland waters of the United States. The permit, which EPA has designated as the Vessel General Permit for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of Vessels, or VGP, incorporates the current U.S. Coast Guard requirements for ballast water management, as well as supplemental ballast water requirements and limits for 26 other specific discharges. Regulated vessels cannot operate in U.S. waters after September 19, 2009 unless they are covered by the VGP. To do so, vessel owners must submit a Notice of Intent, or NOI, at least 30 days before the vessel operates in U.S. waters. To comply with the VGP vessel owners and operators may have to install equipment on their vessels to treat ballast water before it is discharged or implement port facility disposal arrangements or procedures at potentially substantial cost. The VGP also requires states to certify the permit, and certain states have imposed more stringent discharge standards as a condition of their certification. Many of the VGP requirements have already been addressed in our vessels' current ISM Code SMS Plan. We have submitted NOIs for all of our vessels that operate in U.S. waters. The USCG and EPA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding enforcement of the VGP, and the USCG adopted guidelines for enforcement of the VGP that will go into effect on March 13, 2011.
Environmental RegulationThe Clean Air Act
The Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) requires the EPA to promulgate standards applicable to emissions of volatile organic compounds and other air contaminants. Our vessels are subject to CAA vapor control and recovery standards for cleaning fuel tanks and conducting other operations in regulated port areas and emissions standards for so-called "Category 3 "marine diesel engines operating in U.S. waters. The marine diesel engine emission standards are currently limited to new engines beginning with the 2004 model year. However, on April 30, 2010, EPA adopted more stringent standards for emissions of particulate matter, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides and other related provisions for new Category 3 marine diesel engines installed on vessels registered or flagged in the U.S. We may incur costs to install control equipment on our vessels to comply with the new standards. Several states regulate emissions from vessel vapor control and recovery operations under federally-approved State Implementation Plans. California has adopted limits on particulate matter, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides emissions from the auxiliary diesel engines of ocean-going vessels in waters within approximately 24 miles of the California coast. Compliance is to be achieved through the use of marine diesel oil with a sulfur content not exceeding .1% by weight, or marine gas oil, or through alternative means of emission control, such as the use of shore-side electrical power or exhaust emission controls. These rules were struck down by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2008 on the grounds that they were preempted by the CAA, and in May 2008 California was permanently enjoined from enforcing the rules. However, the state has requested EPA to grant it a waiver under the CAA to enforce its invalidated vessel emission standards, and the Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned EPA to regulate black carbon emissions from vessels and other sources. The California Air Resources Board also adopted fuel content regulations effective July 1, 2009 that apply to all vessels sailing within 24 miles of the California coast and whose itineraries call
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for them to enter California ports, terminal facilities or estuarine waters. If new or more stringent requirements relating to emissions from marine diesel engines or port operations by vessels are adopted by EPA or the states, compliance with these regulations could entail significant capital expenditures or otherwise increase the costs of our operations.
Environmental RegulationOther Environmental Initiatives
The EU has also adopted legislation that: requires member states to impose criminal sanctions for certain pollution events, such as the unauthorized discharge of tank washings. The European Parliament recently endorsed a European Commission proposal to criminalize certain pollution discharges from ships. If it becomes formal EU law, it will affect the operation of vessels and the liability of owners for oil and other pollutional discharges. It is difficult to predict what legislation, if any, may be promulgated by the European Union or any other country or authority.
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) to which 27 nations are party adopted the "New Inspection Regime" (NIR) to replace the existing Port State Control system, effective January 1, 2011. The NIR is a significant departure from the previous system, as it is a risk based targeting mechanism that will reward quality shipping with a smaller inspection burden and subject high-risk ships to more in-depth and frequent inspections. The inspection record of a vessel, its age and type, the Voluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme, and the performance of the flag State and recognized organizations are used to develop the risk profile of a vessel.
The U.S. National Invasive Species Act, or NISA, was enacted in 1996 in response to growing reports of harmful organisms being released into U.S. ports through ballast water taken on by ships in foreign ports. Under NISA, the USCG adopted regulations in July 2004 imposing mandatory ballast water management practices for all vessels equipped with ballast water tanks entering U.S. waters. These requirements can be met by performing mid-ocean ballast exchange, by retaining ballast water on board the ship, or by using environmentally sound alternative ballast water management methods approved by the USCG. (However, mid-ocean ballast exchange is mandatory for ships heading to the Great Lakes or Hudson Bay, or vessels engaged in the foreign export of Alaskan North Slope crude oil.) Mid-ocean ballast exchange is the primary method for compliance with the USCG regulations, since holding ballast water can prevent ships from performing cargo operations upon arrival in the United States, and alternative methods are still under development. Vessels that are unable to conduct mid-ocean ballast exchange due to voyage or safety concerns may discharge minimum amounts of ballast water (in areas other than the Great Lakes and the Hudson River), provided that they comply with record keeping requirements and document the reasons they could not follow the required ballast water management requirements. In August 2009 the USCG published proposed amendments to its ballast water management regulations that could ultimately set maximum acceptable discharge limits for various invasive species and/or lead to requirements for active treatment of ballast water. As part of a settlement to a lawsuit challenging the VGP, EPA has recently agreed to propose a new VGP with numerical restrictions on organisms in ballast water discharges by November 2011.
A number of bills relating to ballast water management have been introduced in the U.S. Congress, but we cannot predict which bill, if any, will be enacted into law. In the absence of federal standards, states have enacted legislation or regulations to address invasive species through ballast water and hull cleaning management and permitting requirements. Michigan's ballast water management legislation was upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and California has recently enacted legislation extending its ballast water management program to regulate the management of "hull fouling" organisms attached to vessels and adopted regulations limiting the number of organisms in ballast water discharges. Other states may proceed with the enactment of similar requirements that could increase the costs of operating in state waters.
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At the international level, the IMO adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, or the BWM Convention, in February 2004. The Convention's implementing regulations call for a phased introduction of mandatory ballast water exchange requirements, to be replaced in time with mandatory concentration limits. The BWM Convention will not enter into force until 12 months after it has been adopted by 30 states, the combined merchant fleets of which represent not less than 35% of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant shipping. The Convention has not yet entered into force because a sufficient number of states have failed to adopt it. However, in March 2010 MEPC passed a resolution urging the ratification of the Convention and calling upon those countries that have already ratified it to encourage the installation of ballast water management systems.
If the mid-ocean ballast exchange is made mandatory throughout the United States or at the international level, or if water treatment requirements or options are instituted, the cost of compliance could increase for ocean carriers. Although we do not believe that the costs of compliance with a mandatory mid-ocean ballast exchange would be material, it is difficult to predict the overall impact of such a requirement on the business.
Although the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires adopting countries to implement national programs to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, emissions from international shipping are not subject to the Kyoto Protocol. Although there was some expectation that a new climate change treaty would be adopted at the December 2009 United Nations Copenhagen climate change conference, it did not result in any binding commitments. Instead, the participating countries developed an accord regarding a framework for negotiations in 2010 that included emission reduction targets for developed countries and goals for limiting increases in atmospheric temperature. The implementation of the Copenhagen accord could lead to restrictions on the emissions of greenhouse gases from shipping. International or multi-national bodies or individual countries may adopt their own climate change regulatory initiatives. The EU intends to expand its emissions trading scheme to vessels, and the IMO's MEPC is developing technical and operational measures to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from international shipping for consideration by IMO this fall. The U.S. EPA Administrator issued a finding that greenhouse gases threaten the public health and safety and has adopted regulations relating to the control of greenhouse gas emissions from certain mobile and stationary sources. Although the EPA findings and regulations do not extend to vessels and vessel engines, the EPA is separately considering a petition from the California Attorney General and environmental groups to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ocean-going vessels under the CAA. Any passage of climate control legislation or other regulatory initiatives by the IMO, the EU or individual countries in which we operate could require us to make significant financial expenditures or otherwise limit our operations that we cannot predict with certainty at this time.
Vessel Security Regulations
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there have been a variety of initiatives intended to enhance vessel security. On November 25, 2002, the U.S. Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA) came into effect. To implement certain portions of the MTSA, in July 2003, the U.S. Coast Guard issued regulations requiring the implementation of certain security requirements aboard vessels operating in waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Similarly, in December 2002, amendments to SOLAS created a new chapter of the convention dealing specifically with maritime security. The new chapter went into effect in July 2004, and imposes various detailed security obligations on vessels and port authorities, most of which are contained in the newly created International Ship and Port Facilities Security (ISPS) Code.
The ISPS Code is designed to protect ports and international shipping against terrorism. To trade internationally a vessel must obtain an International Ship Security Certificate, or ISSC, from a
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recognized security organization approved by the vessel's flag state. To obtain an ISSC a vessel must meet certain requirements, including:
In addition, as of January 1, 2009, every company and/or registered owner is required to have an identification number which conforms to the IMO Unique Company and Registered Owner Identification Number Scheme. Our Manager has also complied with this amendment to SOLAS XI-1/3-1.
The U.S. Coast Guard regulations are intended to align with international maritime security standards and exempt non-U.S. vessels that have a valid ISSC attesting to the vessel's compliance with SOLAS security requirements and the ISPS Code from the requirement to have a U.S. Coast Guard approved vessel security plan. We have implemented the various security measures addressed by the MTSA, SOLAS and the ISPS Code and have ensured that our vessels are compliant with all applicable security requirements. Our fleet, as part of our continuous improvement cycle, is reviewing vessels SSPs and is maintaining best Management practices during passage through security risk areas.
Seasonality
Our containerships operate under multi-year charters and therefore are not subject to the effect of seasonal variations in demand.
Properties
We have no freehold or leasehold interest in any real property. We occupy office space at 14 Akti Kondyli, 185 45 Piraeus, Greece that is owned by our manager, Danaos Shipping, and which is provided to us as part of the services we receive under our management agreement.
Item 4A. Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable.
Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects
The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes to those statements included elsewhere in this annual report. This discussion includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. As a result of many factors, such as those set forth under "Item 3. Key InformationRisk Factors" and elsewhere in this annual report, our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements.
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Overview
Our business is to provide international seaborne transportation services by operating vessels in the containership sector of the shipping industry. Our fleet as of March 31, 2011 consisted of 52 containerships and, as described below, as of that date we had newbuilding contracts for an additional 13 containerships, which we currently expect will be delivered to us by the end of June 2012.
We deploy our containerships on multi-year, fixed-rate charters to take advantage of the stable cash flows and high utilization rates typically associated with multi-year charters. As of March 31, 2011, 50 containerships in our fleet were employed on time charters and two vessels were employed on bareboat charters. Our containerships are generally deployed on multi-year charters to large liner companies that charter-in vessels on a multi-year basis as part of their business strategies.
The average number of containerships in our fleet for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008 was 45.7, 40.5 and 37.7, respectively.
As of March 31, 2011, we had newbuilding contracts with Hyundai Samho, Hanjin and Shanghai Jiangnan for an additional 13 containerships with an aggregate capacity of 129,250 TEUs, with scheduled deliveries to us from April 2011 through June 2012.
After delivery of these 13 containerships, our containership fleet of 65 vessels will have a total capacity of 362,679 TEUs, assuming we do not acquire any additional vessels or dispose of any of our vessels.
As of March 31, 2011, our diverse group of customers in the containership sector included China Shipping, CMA-CGM, Hanjin, Hyundai, Maersk, MISC, MSC, SCI, The Containership Company ("TCC"), TS Lines, Yang Ming and ZIM Israel Integrated Shipping Services. In addition, we have arranged time charters ranging from 10 to 12 years with CMA-CGM and two other accredited charterers for our 13 contracted vessels as of March 31, 2011.
As described in detail below under "Liquidity and Capital Resources" and "Bank Agreement", in the first quarter of 2011 we entered into a definitive Bank Agreement and other agreements with our lenders to restructure our existing indebtedness, as well as agreements for new financing arrangements. These agreements, among other things, will fund the remaining installment payments under our newbuilding contracts, waive prior covenant breaches under these credit facilities and amend future covenant levels.
As of May 25, 2010, we signed an agreement to cancel newbuilding contracts for three 6,500 TEU containerships which were scheduled to be delivered to us in 2012, in return for the shipyard retaining $64.35 million in previously paid deposits for such vessels and in connection with which we wrote-off interest capitalized and other predelivery capital expenditures of $7.16 million. These were recorded in our consolidated Statement of Income under "Impairment Loss".
As of December 31, 2009 we were in breach of various covenants in our credit facilities, for some of which we had obtained waivers and for others we had not. In addition, under the cross default provisions of our credit facilities the lenders could require immediate repayment of the related outstanding debt. In this respect, we had reclassified our long-term debt of $2.3 billion as of December 31, 2009, as current debt. On January 24, 2011, we entered into the Bank Agreement with our lenders to restructure our existing debt obligations, other than our KEXIM and KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facilities, and obtained approximately $425 million of new debt financing. Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, the lenders under our existing credit facilities, agreed to waive all existing covenant breaches or defaults as of December 31, 2010, under our existing credit facilities, and agreed to amend the covenants levels applicable after the date of the Bank Agreement. Furthermore, on August 12, 2010, we signed a supplemental agreement with KEXIM and ABN Amro, which amended the financial covenants of our KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facility effective June 30, 2010 with which we
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were in compliance as of December 31, 2010. In addition, we were in compliance with the covenants under our KEXIM credit facility as of December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, we classified our long-term debt of $2.5 billion as long-term liability in accordance with the terms of those agreements.
Purchase Options
The charters with respect to the CMA CGM Moliere, the CMA CGM Musset, the CMA CGM Nerval, the HN CMA CGM Rabelais and the CMA CGM Racine include an option for the charterer, CMA-CGM, to purchase the vessels eight years after the commencement of the respective charters, which, based on the respective expected delivery dates for these vessels, are expected to fall in September 2017, March 2018, May 2018, July 2018 and August 2018, respectively, each for $78.0 million. In each case, the option to purchase the vessel must be exercised 15 months prior to the acquisition dates described in the preceding sentence. The $78.0 million option prices reflect an estimate of the fair market value of the vessels at the time we would be required to sell the vessels upon exercise of the options. If CMA-CGM were to exercise these options with respect to any or all of these vessels, the expected size of our combined containership fleet would be reduced, and as a result our anticipated level of revenues would be reduced.
Our Manager
Our operations are managed by Danaos Shipping, our manager, under the supervision of our officers and our board of directors. We believe our manager has built a strong reputation in the shipping community by providing customized, high-quality operational services in an efficient manner for both new and older vessels. We have a management agreement pursuant to which our manager and its affiliates provide us and our subsidiaries with technical, administrative and certain commercial services. The initial term of this agreement expired on December 31, 2008, and the agreement now renews each year for a one-year term for the next 12 years thereafter unless we give a one-year notice of non-renewal (subject to certain termination rights described in "Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions"). Our manager is ultimately owned by Danaos Investments Limited as Trustee of the 883 Trust, which we refer to as the Coustas Family Trust. Danaos Investments Limited, a corporation wholly-owned by our chief executive officer, is the protector (which is analogous to a trustee) of the Coustas Family Trust, of which Dr. Coustas and other members of the Coustas family are beneficiaries. The Coustas Family Trust is also our largest stockholder.
Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
Our financial results are largely driven by the following factors:
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In addition to those factors described above affecting our operating results, our net income is significantly affected by our financing arrangements, including our interest rate swap arrangements, and, accordingly, prevailing interest rates and the interest rates and other financing terms we may obtain in the future.
Operating Revenues
Our operating revenues are driven primarily by the number of vessels in our fleet, the number of operating days during which our vessels generate revenues and the amount of daily charter hire that our vessels earn under time charters which, in turn, are affected by a number of factors, including our decisions relating to vessel acquisitions and dispositions, the amount of time that we spend positioning our vessels, the amount of time that our vessels spend in drydock undergoing repairs, maintenance and upgrade work, the age, condition and specifications of our vessels and the levels of supply and demand in the containership charter market. Vessels operating in the spot market generate revenues that are less predictable but can allow increased profit margins to be captured during periods of improving charter rates.
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Revenues from multi-year period charters comprised substantially all of our revenues from continuing operations for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008. The revenues relating to our multi-year charters will be affected by the delivery dates of our contracted containerships and any additional vessels subject to multi-year charters we may acquire in the future, as well as by the disposition of any such vessel in our fleet. Our revenues will also be affected if any of our charterers cancel a multi-year charter. Each of our current vessel construction agreements has a contracted delivery date. A change in the date of delivery of a vessel will impact our revenues and results of operations. In 2009, we arranged, in cooperation with our charterers, delays in the delivery of most of our contracted vessels for periods ranging between two months and one year and, in the first half of 2010, agreed to cancel three of our newbuilding vessels, which delays and cancellations are factored into the below table. Our multi-year charter agreements have been contracted in varying rate environments and expire at different times. Generally, we do not employ our vessels under voyage charters under which a shipowner, in return for a fixed sum, agrees to transport cargo from one or more loading ports to one or more destinations and assumes all vessel operating costs and voyage expenses.
Our expected revenues as of December 31, 2010, based on contracted charter rates, from our charter arrangements for our containerships having initial terms of more than 12 months is shown in the table below. Although these expected revenues are based on contracted charter rates, any contract is subject to performance by the counterparties. If the charterers are unable or unwilling to make charter payments to us, our results of operations and financial condition will be materially adversely affected. See "Item 3. Key InformationRisk FactorsWe are dependent on the ability and willingness of our charterers to honor their commitments to us for all of our revenues and the failure of our counterparties to meet their obligations under our time charter agreements, or under our shipbuilding contracts, could cause us to suffer losses or otherwise adversely affect our business."
Contracted Revenue from Multi-Year Charters as of December 31, 2010(1)
(Amounts in millions of U.S. dollars)
Number of Vessels(2)
|
2011 | 2012 - 2013 | 2014 - 2015 | 2016 - 2020 | 2021 - 2028 | Total | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
65(3) |
$ | 452.8 | $ | 1,128.9 | $ | 1,097.8 | $ | 2,338.1 | (4) | $ | 885.8 | (4) | $ | 5,903.4 | |||||
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July 2018 and August 2018, respectively, each for $78.0 million. The $78.0 million option prices reflect an estimate of the fair market value of the vessels at the time we would be required to sell the vessels upon exercise of the options.
We generally do not charter our containerships in the spot market. Vessels operating in the spot market generate revenues that are less predictable than vessels on period charters, although this chartering strategy can enable vessel-owners to capture increased profit margins during periods of improvements in charter rates. Deployment of vessels in the spot market creates exposure, however, to the risk of declining charter rates, as spot rates may be higher or lower than those rates at which a vessel could have been time chartered for a longer period.
Voyage Expenses
Voyage expenses include port and canal charges, bunker (fuel) expenses (bunker costs are normally covered by our charterers, except in certain cases such as vessel re-positioning), address commissions and brokerage commissions. Under multi-year time charters and bareboat charters, such as those on which we charter our containerships and under short-term time charters, the charterers bear the voyage expenses other than brokerage and address commissions. As such, voyage expenses represent a relatively small portion of our vessels' overall expenses.
From time to time, in accordance with industry practice and in respect of the charters for our containerships we pay brokerage commissions of approximately 0.5% to 2.5% of the total daily charter hire rate under the charters to unaffiliated ship brokers associated with the charterers, depending on the number of brokers involved with arranging the charter. We also pay address commissions of up to 2.5% to a limited number of our charterers. Our manager will also receive a commission of 0.5% based on the contract price of any vessel bought or sold by it on our behalf, excluding newbuilding contracts. Since July 1, 2005, we have paid and will pay commissions to our manager of 0.75% on all freight, charter hire, ballast bonus and demurrage for each vessel.
Vessel Operating Expenses
Vessel operating expenses include crew wages and related costs, the cost of insurance, expenses for repairs and maintenance, the cost of spares and consumable stores, tonnage taxes and other miscellaneous expenses. Aggregate expenses increase as the size of our fleet increases. Factors beyond our control, some of which may affect the shipping industry in general, including, for instance, developments relating to market premiums for insurance, may also cause these expenses to increase. In addition, a substantial portion of our vessel operating expenses, primarily crew wages, are in currencies other than the U.S. dollar and any gain or loss we incur as a result of the U.S. dollar fluctuating in value against these currencies is included in vessel operating expenses. We fund our manager monthly in advance with amounts it will need to pay our fleet's vessel operating expenses.
Under multi-year time charters, such as those on which we charter the 50 containerships in our current fleet, and under short-term time charters, we pay for vessel operating expenses. Under bareboat charters, such as the one on which we chartered the two of our containerships in our fleet, our charterers bear most vessel operating expenses, including the costs of crewing, insurance, surveys, drydockings, maintenance and repairs.
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Amortization of Deferred Drydocking and Special Survey Costs
We follow the deferral method of accounting for special survey and drydocking costs, whereby actual costs incurred are deferred and are amortized on a straight-line basis over the period until the next scheduled survey, which is two and a half years. If special survey or drydocking is performed prior to the scheduled date, the remaining unamortized balances are immediately written off. We capitalize the total costs associated with drydockings, special surveys and intermediate surveys and amortize these costs on a straight-line basis over 30 months.
Major overhaul performed during drydocking is differentiated from normal operating repairs and maintenance. The related costs for inspections that are required for the vessel's certification under the requirement of the classification society are categorized as drydock costs. A vessel at drydock performs certain assessments, inspections, refurbishments, replacements and alterations within a safe non-operational environment that allows for complete shutdown of certain machinery and equipment, navigational, ballast (keep the vessel upright) and safety systems, access to major underwater components of vessel (rudder, propeller, thrusters and anti-corrosion systems), which are not accessible during vessel operations, as well as hull treatment and paints. In addition, specialized equipment is required to access and manoeuvre vessel components, which are not available at regular ports.
Repairs and maintenance normally performed during operation either at port or at sea have the purpose of minimizing wear and tear to the vessel caused by a particular incident or normal wear and tear. Repair and maintenance costs are expensed as incurred.
Depreciation
We depreciate our containerships on a straight-line basis over their estimated remaining useful economic lives. As of January 1, 2005, we determined the estimated useful lives of our containerships to be 30 years from the year built. Depreciation is based on cost, less the estimated scrap value of $300 per ton for all vessels.
General and Administrative Expenses
From July 1, 2005 to December 31, 2008, we paid our manager a fee of $500 per day for providing commercial, chartering and administrative services, a management fee of $250 per vessel per day for its technical management of vessels on bareboat charter and $500 per vessel per day for the remaining vessels in our fleet, pro rated for the calendar days we own each vessel. We also paid our manager a flat fee of $400,000 per newbuilding vessel for the on-premises supervision of our newbuilding contracts by selected engineers and others of its staff.
On February 12, 2009, we signed an addendum to the management contract adjusting the management fees, effective January 1, 2009, to a fee of $575 per day for providing commercial, chartering and administrative services, a fee of $290 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $575 per vessel per day for the remaining vessels in the fleet and a flat fee of $725,000 per newbuilding vessel for the supervision of newbuilding contracts. All commissions to the manager remained unchanged.
On February 8, 2010, we signed an addendum to the management contract adjusting the management fees, effective January 1, 2010, to a fee of $675 per day for commercial, chartering and administrative services, a fee of $340 per vessel per day for vessels on bareboat charter and $675 per vessel per day for vessels on time charter. All commissions to the manager remained unchanged.
Furthermore, general and administrative expenses include audit fees, legal fees, board remuneration, executive officers compensation, directors & officers insurance, stock exchange fees and other general and administrative expenses.
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Other Income/(Expense), Net
In the fourth quarter of 2010, we became obligated for various advisory fees directly attributed to the Bank Agreement for the restructuring of our then existing credit facilities and new financing arrangements. In this respect, we recorded an expense of $18.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2010, which was cash settled up to March 2011. In addition, we recorded income of $12.6 million in relation to an agreement entered into with the charterer of the three newbuildings cancelled on May 25, 2010 in consideration for the termination of the respective charter parties for which we received payment in cash in 2010. These respective items were recorded under "Other income/(expense), net" as they are separately identifiable, generated by the Bank Agreement and are items not connected with the operation of our vessels.
Interest Expense, Interest Income and Other Finance Costs
We incur interest expense on outstanding indebtedness under our credit facilities which we include in interest expenses. We also incurred financing costs in connection with establishing those facilities, which is included in our finance costs. Further, we earn interest on cash deposits in interest bearing accounts and on interest bearing securities, which we include in interest income. We will incur additional interest expense in the future on our outstanding borrowings and under future borrowings. In the first quarter of 2011, we became obligated for, and paid, various fees in connection with the Bank Agreement for the restructuring of our then existing credit facilities and new financing arrangements as described under "Bank Agreement" and "New Credit Facilities."
Loss on Fair Value of Derivatives
The interest rate swap arrangements we enter into are generally based on the forecasted delivery of vessels we contract for and our debt financing needs associated therewith. A portion of these interest rate swap agreements were effective as hedges as of December 31, 2010 under the applicable accounting guidance, while a portion were not. If our estimates of the forecasted timing of the incurrence of such debt change, as they did in past, due to the deferred delivery dates for certain of our newbuildings, which we agreed in 2009, as well as the cancellation of three newbuildings in 2010, which resulted in reduction of the forecasted debt needs, and as we expect will occur as a result of the modified variable amortization of our existing credit facilities under the terms of the bank restructuring agreement, our interest rate swap arrangements may cease to be effective as hedges. Any such resulting hedge ineffectiveness of our swap arrangements is recognized in our consolidated statement of income and may result in the reclassification of unrealized losses or gains from "Accumulated other comprehensive loss" in our consolidated balance sheet to our consolidated statement of income. As of December 31, 2010, the total notional amount of our cash flow interest rate swap arrangements was $3.9 billion ($0.4 billion of which have an effective date starting in future periods).
Discontinued Drybulk Operations
While our focus is on the containership sector, in 2002 we made an investment in the drybulk sector, and from 2002 to 2007, we owned a number of drybulk carriers, chartering them to our customers (the "Drybulk Business") in the spot market, including through pooling arrangements. In the first quarter of 2007, we sold five of the six drybulk vessels in our fleet to an unaffiliated purchaser, for an aggregate of $118.0 million and sold the last drybulk carrier, the MV Achilleas, in our fleet to the same purchaser for $25.5 million, when its charter subsequently expired in 2007. As detailed in Note 26, Discontinued Operations, in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein, we have determined that our Drybulk Business should be reflected as discontinued operations. We have included the financial results of the Drybulk Business in discontinued operations for all periods presented and discussed under "Results of Operations." In the future, we may reinvest in the drybulk sector with the acquisition of more recently built drybulk carriers with configurations
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better suited to employment in the current drybulk charter market, subject to market conditions, including the availability of suitable vessels to purchase.
Results of Operations
The following discussion solely reflects results from continuing operations (containerships), unless otherwise noted. As described in Note 26, Discontinued Operations, in the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements certain reclassifications have been made to reflect the discontinued operations treatment of our Drybulk Business.
Year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009
During the year ended December 31, 2010, we had an average of 45.7 containerships compared to 40.5 containerships for the same period of 2009. During 2010, we took delivery of nine vessels, the CMA CGM Musset, on March 12, 2010, the CMA CGM Nerval, on May 17, 2010, the YM Mandate, on May 19, 2010, the Hanjin Buenos Aires, on May 27, 2010, the CMA CGM Rabelais, on July 2, 2010, the Hanjin Santos, on July 6, 2010, the CMA CGM Racine, on August 16, 2010, the YM Maturity, on August 18, 2010 and the Hanjin Versailles, on October 11, 2010 and we sold the MSC Eagle on January 22, 2010, a vessel over 30 years old.
Operating Revenues
Operating revenue increased 12.6%, or $40.2 million, to $359.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $319.5 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The increase was primarily attributed to the addition to our fleet of nine vessels, which collectively contributed revenues of $48.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2010.
Moreover, two 4,253 TEU containerships, the Zim Dalian and the Zim Luanda, which were added to our fleet on March 31, 2009 and June 26, 2009, as well as a 6,500 TEU containership, the CMA CGM Moliere, which was added to our fleet on September 28, 2009, contributed incremental revenues of $15.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to 2009. These revenues were offset in part by the sale of one 1,704 TEU containership, the MSC Eagle, on January 22, 2010, that contributed revenues of $3.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to revenues of $0.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2010.
We also had a further decrease in revenues of $20.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2010, mainly attributed to re-chartering of vessels at reduced charter hire rates, as well as reduced charter hire in relation to vessels laid up by our charterer, representing operating expenses not being incurred during the lay-up period.
Voyage Expenses
Voyage expenses increased 8.2%, or $0.6 million, to $7.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $7.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2009. The increase was the result of increases in various voyage expenses, such as port charges, commissions and other expenses due to the increased number of vessels in our fleet.
Vessel Operating Expenses
Vessel operating expenses decreased 4.3%, or $4.0 million, to $88.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $92.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The reduction is mainly attributed to reduced costs of certain vessels which were on charterers' directed lay-up for 1,311 days in aggregate during 2010 compared to 307 days in the same period of 2009. Although the average number of vessels in our fleet under time charter increased during the year ended December 31, 2010
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compared to 2009, the average daily operating cost per vessel (under time charter) was reduced to $5,884 for the year ended December 31, 2010, from $6,373 for the year ended December 31, 2009 (excluding those vessels on lay-up).
Depreciation
Depreciation expense increased 26.4%, or $16.1 million, to $77.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $60.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The increase in depreciation expense was due to the increased average number of vessels in our fleet during the year ended December 31, 2010, compared to 2009.
Amortization of Deferred Drydocking and Special Survey Costs
Amortization of deferred dry-docking and special survey costs decreased 10.8%, or $0.9 million, to $7.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $8.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The decrease reflects reduced drydocking costs amortized during the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to 2009.
Impairment Loss
On May 25, 2010, we signed an agreement, which forms part of our comprehensive financing plan contemplated by our Bank Agreement described herein, with Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. to cancel three 6,500 TEU newbuilding containerships, the HN N-216, the HN N-217 and the HN N-218, initially expected to be delivered in the first half of 2012, and recorded impairment loss of $71.5 million, which consisted of cash advances of $64.35 million paid to the shipyard and $7.16 million of interest capitalized and other predelivery capital expenditures paid in relation to the construction of the respective newbuildings.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses increased 60.7%, or $8.8 million, to $23.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $14.5 million in 2009. The increase was mainly the result of increased legal and advisory fees of $2.5 million (attributable to fees related to preparing and structuring our comprehensive financing plan contemplated by our Bank Agreement described herein), as well as non-cash stock-based compensation of $1.6 million recorded in 2010 and increased fees of $2.7 million to our Manager in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to 2009, due to the increase in the average number of vessels in our fleet and an increase in the per day fee payable to our Manager since January 1, 2010.
Gain on Sale of Vessels
On January 22, 2010, we sold and delivered the MSC Eagle. The gross sale consideration was $4.6 million. We realized a net gain on this sale of $1.9 million. The MSC Eagle was over 30-years old and was generating revenue under its time charter, which expired in January 2010. For the year ended December 31, 2009, we did not sell any vessels.
Interest Expense, Interest Income, and Other Finance (Expenses) Income, Net
Interest expense increased 13.8%, or $5.0 million, to $41.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $36.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The increase in interest expense was partially due to the increase in our average debt by $179.8 million to $2,406.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $2,226.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, as well as increased margins over LIBOR following our agreements in connection with covenant waivers obtained during 2009, which was partially offset by the decrease of LIBOR payable under our credit facilities in the
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year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009. In addition, the delivery of newbuilt vessels has resulted in reduced interest capitalized by $9.2 million, rather than such interest being recognized as an expense, to $23.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $33.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2009.
Interest income decreased by $1.4 million, to $1.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $2.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The decrease in interest income is attributed to lower average cash balances, as well as reduced interest rates to which our cash balances were subject during the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009.
Other finance cost, net, increased by $3.8 million, to $6.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $2.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The increase was the result of $3.8 million of fees related to our comprehensive financing plan contemplated by our Bank Agreement described herein, which were recorded during the year ended December 31, 2010.
Other Income/(Expenses), Net
Other income/(expenses), net, increased by $4.8 million, to an expense of $5.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from an expense of $0.3 million in the same period of 2009. The increase was mainly the result of advisory and legal fees of $18.0 million (attributed to fees related to preparing and structuring our comprehensive financing plan contemplated by our Bank Agreement described herein), which partially offset by an income of $12.6 million in relation to an agreement entered into with the charterer of the three newbuildings cancelled on May 25, 2010 in consideration for the termination of the respective charter parties, recorded during the year ended December 31, 2010.
Loss on Fair Value of Derivatives
Loss on fair value of derivatives, increased by $73.6 million, to a loss of $137.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from a loss of $63.6 million in the same period of 2009. The increased loss is mainly attributed to non-cash changes in fair value of interest rate swaps of $44.7 million loss recorded in our Statement of Income in the year ended December 31, 2010, due to hedge accounting ineffectiveness and changes in forecasted debt, compared to $29.5 million loss in the year ended December 31, 2009, as well as a non-cash loss of $4.2 million in relation to deferred realized loss of cash flow hedges for the newbuildings HN N-216, the HN N-217 and the HN N-218 following their cancellation being reclassified from "Accumulated other comprehensive loss" in the consolidated balance sheet to consolidated statement of income in the year ended December 31, 2010. Furthermore, the increased loss on fair value of derivatives is attributed to realized loss on interest rate swap hedges of $88.3 million recorded in our Statement of Income during the year ended December 31, 2010, due to higher average notional amount of swaps and reduced LIBOR payable on our credit facilities against LIBOR fixed through such swaps, compared to $34.1 million loss in the year ended December 31, 2009.
In addition, realized losses on cash flow hedges of $38.5 million and $36.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively, were deferred in "Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss", rather than such realized losses being recognized as expenses, and will be reclassified into earnings over the depreciable lives of these vessels under construction, which are financed by loans for which their interest rates have been hedged by our interest rate swap contracts.
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The table below provides an analysis of the items discussed above which were recorded in the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009:
| |
Year ended December 31, |
Year ended December 31, |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
2010 | 2009 | ||||||
| |
(in millions) |
|||||||
Cash Flow interest rate swaps |
||||||||
Unrealized losses |
$ | (45.7 | ) | $ | (31.3 | ) | ||
Amortization of deferred realized losses |
(0.5 | ) | (0.1 | ) | ||||
Impairment of deferred realized losses |
(4.2 | ) | | |||||
Total realized losses |
(129.4 | ) | (72.9 | ) | ||||
Realized losses deferred in Other Comprehensive Loss |
38.5 | 36.3 | ||||||
Realized losses recorded in Statement of Income |
(90.9 | ) | (36.6 | ) | ||||
|
(141.3 | ) | (68.0 | ) | ||||
Fair Value interest rate swaps |
||||||||
Unrealized gains/(losses) on swap asset |
$ | 0.7 | $ | (2.9 | ) | |||
Unrealized gains/(losses) on fair value of hedged debt |
(0.2 | ) | 3.7 | |||||
Amortization fair value of hedged debt |
1.0 | 1.1 | ||||||
Realized gains |
2.6 | 2.5 | ||||||
Loss on interest rate swaps |
$ | (137.2 | ) | $ | (63.6 | ) | ||
Year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the year ended December 31, 2008
During the year ended December 31, 2009, we had an average of 40.5 containerships as compared to 37.7 containerships for 2008. During 2009, we took delivery of four vessels, the Zim Monaco on January 2, 2009, the Zim Dalian on March 31, 2009, the Zim Luanda on June 26, 2009 and the CMA CGM Moliere on September 28, 2009.
Operating Revenues
Operating revenue increased 6.9%, or $20.6 million, to $319.5 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $298.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The increase was primarily attributed to the addition to our fleet of four vessels, which collectively contributed revenues of $22.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2009.
In addition, three 2,200 TEU containerships, the Hyundai Progress, the Hyundai Highway and the Hyundai Bridge, as well as, three 4,253 TEU containerships, the Zim Rio Grande, the Zim Sao Paolo and the ZIM Kingston, which were added to our fleet on February 11, 2008, March 18, 2008 and March 20, 2008, July 4, 2008, September 22, 2008 and November 3, 2008, contributed incremental revenues of $20.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to 2008. These additional contributions to revenue were offset in part by our sale of five vessels in 2008, which vessels, as a result, contributed $12.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2008 compared to no revenues in the year ended December 31, 2009. The balance of $9.4 million is mainly attributable to revenue lost due to off-hire days, as well as re-chartering of two of our vessels at reduced charter rates.
Voyage Expenses
Voyage expenses decreased 2.7%, or $0.2 million, to $7.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $7.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2008. Voyage expenses mainly relate to address and brokerage commissions, as well as commissions on gross revenue paid to our manager.
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Vessel Operating Expenses
Vessel operating expenses increased 3.5%, or $3.1 million, to $92.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $89.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The increase was due to the increase in the average number of our vessels in our fleet during the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the year ended December 31, 2008.
This overall increase was offset in part by the lower average daily operating cost per vessel of $6,241 for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to $6,574 for the year ended December 31, 2008.
Amortization of Deferred Drydocking and Special Survey Costs
Amortization of deferred dry-docking and special survey costs increased 13.7%, or $1.0 million, to $8.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $7.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The increase reflects higher drydocking costs incurred, which were subject to amortization during the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to 2008.
Depreciation
Depreciation expense increased 19.4%, or $9.9 million, to $60.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $51.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The increase in depreciation expense was due to the increased average number of vessels in our fleet during the year ended December 31, 2009, compared to 2008.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses increased 25.0%, or $2.9 million, to $14.5 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $11.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The increase was mainly a result of increased fees of $1.7 million paid to our Manager in the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the year ended December 31, 2008 due to the increase in the average number of our vessels in our fleet and an increase of the fees paid to our manager since January 1, 2009. Furthermore, various other general and administrative expenses related to legal and other advisory fees increased by $1.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to 2008.
Gain on Sale of Vessels
For the year ended December 31, 2009, we did not sell any vessels. For the year ended December 31, 2008, the gain on sale of vessels reflects the sale of the APL Belgium, the Winterberg, the Maersk Constantia, the Asia Express and the Sederberg for gross sale consideration of $44.5 million, $11.2 million, $15.8 million, $10.2 million and $4.9 million, respectively, resulting in an aggregate net gain of $16.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2008.
Interest Expense, Interest Income, and Other Finance (Expenses) Income, Net
Interest expense increased 4.3%, or $1.5 million, to $36.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $34.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The change in interest expense was due to the increase in our average debt by $511.2 million to $2,226.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 from $1,715.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2008, as well as, the increased margins over LIBOR on which our indebtedness is subject to, following our agreements with our lenders to waive certain covenant breaches as of December 31, 2008 and June 30, 2009, partially offset by decrease of LIBOR payable under our credit facilities in the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the year ended December 31, 2008. The financing of our extensive newbuilding program resulted in interest capitalization, rather than such interest being recognized as an expense, of
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$33.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to $36.9 million of capitalized interest for the year ended December 31, 2008.
Interest income decreased by $4.1 million, to $2.4 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $6.5 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease in interest income is mainly attributed to lower interest rates on which our cash balances were subject to, partially offset by higher average bank deposits during the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the year ended December 31, 2008.
Other finance cost, net, increased by $0.3 million, to $2.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from $2.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2008.
Other Income/(Expenses), Net
Other income/(expenses), net, decreased by $0.8 million, to an expense of $0.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from an expense of $1.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease in other income/(expenses) is mainly attributed to a non-recurring expense of $1.6 million recorded in the year ended December 31, 2008 in relation to insurance for the years of 2006 and 2007, reflecting our contribution to our insurer for the exposure of the International Group of Protection & Indemnity Clubs.
Loss on Fair Value of Derivatives
Loss on fair value of derivatives, increased by $63.0 million, to a loss of $63.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2009, from a loss of $0.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The increase is attributable to non-cash losses due to changes in the fair value of interest rate swaps of $29.5 million recorded in our consolidated statement of income in 2009, due to hedge accounting ineffectiveness, compared to $2.4 million gain in 2008, as well as realized losses on interest rate swap hedges of $34.1 million recorded in our consolidated statement of income during the year ended December 31, 2009, mainly attributed to reduced LIBOR payable on our credit facilities against LIBOR fixed through our interest rate swaps, compared to a $3.0 million loss in the year ended December 31, 2008. In addition, realized losses on cash flow hedges of $36.3 million and $11.6 million in the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively, were deferred and recorded in "Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss", rather than such realized losses being recognized as an expense, and will be reclassified into earnings over the depreciable life of these vessels under construction, which are financed by loans for which their interest rate has been hedged by our interest rate swap contracts.
During 2009, we entered into agreements with the shipyards to defer the delivery of certain newbuildings, resulting in a reassessment of the forecasted debt required to build these vessels in relation to the timing of forecasted debt draw downs expected during the construction period of such vessels. The interest rate swaps entered by us in the past, which are accounted for as cash flow hedges, were based on the originally forecasted delivery of vessels and the respective debt needs. As of December 31, 2009, we revised our estimates of the forecasted debt timing, which resulted in hedge ineffectiveness of $(21.4) million recorded in the consolidated statement of income, reclassification of $(18.1) million of unrealized losses from "Accumulated other comprehensive loss" in our consolidated balance sheet to the consolidated statement of income and unrealized gains of $8.2 in relation to fair value changes of interest rate swaps for the fourth quarter of 2009, which were recorded in the consolidated statement of income due to the retrospective effectiveness testing failure of certain swaps. The total fair value change of the interest rate swaps for the period January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009, amounted to $155.3 million.
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Discontinued Operations
We had no net income/(loss) from discontinued operations in 2009 compared to a loss of $(1.8) million in the year ended December 31, 2008, primarily reflecting an expense of $(1.5) million recorded during 2008 following an unfavorable outcome of a lawsuit regarding the operation of one of the dry bulk vessels (sold in May 2007). As discussed in Note 26 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this annual report, we have determined that our drybulk business should be reflected as discontinued operations.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our principal source of funds has been equity provided by our stockholders, operating cash flows, vessel sales, and long-term bank borrowings, as well as proceeds from our initial public offering in October 2006 and common stock sale in August 2010. Our principal uses of funds have been capital expenditures to establish, grow and maintain our fleet, comply with international shipping standards, environmental laws and regulations and to fund working capital requirements.
Our primary short-term liquidity needs are to fund our vessel operating expenses and loan interest payments. Our medium-term liquidity needs primarily relate to the purchase of the 13 additional containerships for which we have contracted, as of March 31, 2011, and for which we had scheduled future payments through the scheduled delivery of the final contracted vessel during 2012 aggregating approximately $1.0 billion as of March 31, 2011. Our long-term liquidity needs primarily relate to debt repayment and capital expenditures related to any further growth of our fleet. We anticipate that our primary sources of funds will be cash from our new and existing credit facilities and financing arrangements, cash from operations and equity or capital markets debt financings.
On January 24, 2011, we entered into a definitive agreement (the "Bank Agreement"), which became effective on March 4, 2011, in respect of our existing financing arrangements (other than our credit facilities with the Export Import Bank of Korea ("KEXIM") and with KEXIM and ABN Amro), and for new credit facilities (the "New Credit Facilities") from certain of our current lenders aggregating $424.75 million, including $23.75 million under a bridge facility, which had already been advanced to us following the delivery of the CMA CGM Rabelais on July 2, 2010, and will be transferred to one of these New Credit Facilities. The Bank Agreement provides for, among other things, the following under our existing bank debt facilities: the amortization and maturities were rescheduled, the interest rate margin was reduced, and the financial covenants, events of default, and guarantee and security packages were revised and the existing covenant defaults as of December 31, 2010 were waived. We are in compliance with the revised financial covenants under the Bank Agreement. Furthermore, on August 12, 2010, we entered into a supplemental agreement which set the financial covenants in our KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facility at the levels set forth in the Bank Agreement, and contemplated in the commitment letter therefore, effective from June 30, 2010 through June 30, 2012, and the interest rate margin was increased by 0.5 percentage points for the same period. Our KEXIM credit facility contains only a collateral coverage ratio covenant, with which we were in compliance as of December 31, 2010. In addition, on September 27, 2010, we have entered into an agreement with Hyundai Samho Shipyard (the "Hyundai Samho Vendor Financing") to finance 15%, or $190.0 million, of the aggregate purchase price of eight of our newbuilding containerships, and on February 21, 2011, we entered into a bank syndicate agreement, arranged by Citibank and led by the Export-Import Bank of China ("CEXIM") for a new $203.4 million credit facility (the "Sinosure-CEXIM Credit Facility"), in respect of which the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (or Sinosure) will cover certain risks, as well as guarantee our obligations in certain circumstances. See "Credit Facilities" below. We believe that compliance with the terms of these agreements will allow us to fund the remaining installment payments under our newbuilding contracts and satisfy our other liquidity needs.
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On August 6, 2010, we entered into agreements with several investors, including our largest stockholder, under which we sold to them 54,054,055 shares of our Common Stock, at a price of $3.70 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $200.0 million in cash, which satisfied a condition to the arrangements with our lenders discussed above.
As of May 25, 2010, we signed an agreement to cancel newbuilding contracts for three 6,500 TEU containerships which were scheduled to be delivered to us in 2012, in return for the shipyard retaining $64.35 million in previously paid deposits for such vessels and in connection with which we wrote-off interest capitalized and other predelivery capital expenditures of $7.16 million resulting in an impairment charge of $71.5 million. We also entered into an agreement with the charterer of the cancelled newbuildings and we received an amount of $12.6 million in consideration for the termination of the respective charter parties, which was recorded in our consolidated Statement of Income under "Other Income/(Expense)".
As of March 31, 2011, the remaining capital expenditure installments for our 13 newbuilding vessels were approximately $558.1 million for the remainder of 2011 and $450.8 million for 2012. As of March 31, 2011, we expect to fund the remaining installment payments of approximately $1.0 billion with undrawn borrowing capacity under our existing credit facilities of $93.1 million and with undrawn borrowing capacity under the New Credit Facilities with certain of our existing lenders of $354.5 million, under the Hyundai Samho Vendor Financing of $168.3 million and under the Sinosure-CEXIM credit facility of $203.4 million, as well as with the $200 million of proceeds from the recent equity transaction and available cash and cash equivalents.
Under our existing multi-year charters as of December 31, 2010, we had contracted revenues of $452.8 million for 2011, $558.3 million for 2012 and, thereafter, approximately $4.9 billion, of which amounts $87.4 million, $232.8 million and $2.8 billion, respectively, are associated with charters from our contracted newbuildings. Although these expected revenues are based on contracted charter rates, we are dependent on our charterers' ability and willingness to meet their obligations under these charters. See "Risk Factors."
As of December 31, 2010, we had cash and cash equivalents of $229.8 million and restricted cash of $2.9 million. As of March 31, 2011, we had approximately $819.3 million undrawn under our credit facilities. As of March 31, 2011, we had $2.6 billion of outstanding indebtedness, of which only $21.6 million was payable within the next twelve months as under the Bank Agreement no principal payments are scheduled to be due before March 31, 2013. After that time, however, we are required under the Bank Agreement to apply a substantial portion of our cash from operations to the repayment of principal under our financing arrangements. The Bank Agreement also contains requirements for the application of proceeds from any future vessel sales or financings, as well as other transactions. See "Bank Agreement" and "Credit Facilities" below.
Our board of directors determined in 2009 to suspend the payment of further cash dividends as a result of market conditions in the international shipping industry and in order to conserve cash to be applied toward the financing of our extensive new building program. In addition, under the Bank Agreement relating to our existing credit facilities and various new financing arrangements and the Sinosure-CEXIM credit facility, we would not be permitted to pay cash dividends or repurchase shares of our capital stock unless (i) our consolidated net leverage is below 6:1 for two consecutive quarters (four consecutive quarters under our Sinosure-CEXIM credit faciity) and (ii) the ratio of the aggregate market value of our vessels to our outstanding indebtedness exceeds 125% for four consecutive quarters and provided that an event of default has not occurred and we are not, and after giving effect to the payment of the dividend, in breach of any covenant.
We will not receive any cash upon exercise of the up to 15 million warrants to purchase shares of our common stock issued to our lenders participating in our comprehensive financing plan
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contemplated by our Bank Agreement described herein, as such warrants are only exercisable on a cash-less basis.
Cash Flows
The discussion of our cash flows below includes cash flows attributable to both our containership fleet and the discontinued operations of the drybulk carriers for all periods discussed, which is consistent with the presentation of our consolidated statement of cash flows included elsewhere in this annual report.
Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Net cash flows provided by operating activities decreased 15.5%, or $14.4 million, to $78.8 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to $93.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The decrease was primarily the result of increased interest cost of $61.3 million (including realized losses on our interest rate swaps), which was partially offset by a favorable change in the working capital position and increased cash from operations of $42.8 million (before taking into account interest cost), as well as reduced payments for drydocking of $4.1 million in the years ended December 31, 2010 compared to the years ended December 31, 2009.
Net cash flows provided by operating activities decreased 31.2%, or $42.3 million, to $93.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to $135.5 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease was primarily the result of increased interest cost of $57.2 million (including realized losses on our interest rate swaps), which was partially offset by a favorable change in the working capital position and increased cash from operations of $11.5 million (before taking into account interest cost), as well as reduced payments for drydocking of $3.4 million in the years ended December 31, 2009 compared to the years ended December 31, 2008.
Net Cash Used in Investing Activities
Net cash flows used in investing activities increased 57.6%, or $214.8 million, to $587.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to $372.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The difference between the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 primarily reflects installment payments for newbuildings, as well as interest capitalized and other related capital expenditures of $589.5 million in 2010 as opposed to $374.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2009 and net proceeds from sale of MSC Eagle of $1.8 million in 2010 as opposed to $2.3 million of advances received in 2009 in relation to the sale of MSC Eagle. In December 2009, the Company received an advance payment of 50% of the sale consideration as security for the execution of the agreement.
Net cash flows used in investing activities decreased 27.2%, or $139.1 million, to $372.9 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to $512.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The difference between the years ended December 31, 2009 and 2008 primarily reflects the funds used to acquire secondhand vessels of $93.4 million in 2008 as opposed to nil in 2009, cash received of $16.9 million on March 7, 2008 in respect of certain lease arrangements as further described in Note 12, Lease Arrangements, in the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere herein that partially offset the cash used to acquire vessels, installment payments for newbuildings, as well as interest capitalized and other related capital expenditures of $374.9 million in 2009 as opposed to $518.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2008 and net proceeds from sale of vessels of $83.0 million in 2008 as opposed to $2.3 million of advances received in 2009 in relation to the sale of MSC Eagle in January 2010.
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Net Cash Provided by Financing Activities
Net cash flows provided by financing activities increased by $335.6 million, to $616.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to $281.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The increase is primarily due to proceeds from equity issuance of $200.0 million in 2010 and a $195.6 million decrease in restricted cash in 2010 compared to a decrease of $53.1 million in 2009. Net proceeds from long-term debt decreased to $228.6 million in 2010 compared to $234.8 million in 2009. In addition, deferred fees increased to $7.4 million in 2010 (attributed to our debt restructuring plan) compared to $6.8 million in 2009.
Net cash flows provided by financing activities decreased 35.2%, or $152.6 million, to $281.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to $433.7 million in the year ended December 31, 2008. The decrease in 2009 is primarily due to the net proceeds from long-term debt of $234.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2009 as opposed to $745.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2008, and dividend payments of $101.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2008 as opposed to nil dividends during the year ended December 31, 2009 and $53.1 million decrease of restricted cash in 2009 as opposed to $205.4 million increase in 2008.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We report our financial results in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Management believes, however, that certain non-GAAP financial measures used in managing the business may provide users of this financial information additional meaningful comparisons between current results and results in prior operating periods. Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures can provide additional meaningful reflection of underlying trends of the business because they provide a comparison of historical information that excludes certain items that impact the overall comparability. Management also uses these non-GAAP financial measures in making financial, operating and planning decisions and in evaluating our performance. See the tables below for supplemental financial data and corresponding reconciliations to GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, our reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP.
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
EBITDA represents net (loss)/income before interest income and expense, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA represents net (loss)/income before interest income and expense, taxes, depreciation, amortization of deferred drydocking & special survey costs and deferred finance costs (and write-offs), impairment loss, gain/(loss) on sale of vessels, non-cash changes in fair value of derivatives, realized gain/(loss) on derivatives, gain on contract termination and other one-off items in relation to the Company's Comprehensive Financing Plan. We believe that EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA assist investors and analysts in comparing our performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance and because are used by certain investors to measure a company's ability to service and/or incur indebtedness, pay capital expenditures and meet working capital requirements. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are also used: (i) by prospective and current customers as well as potential lenders to evaluate potential transactions; and (ii) to evaluate and price potential acquisition candidates. Our EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to that reported by other companies due to differences in methods of calculation.
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Some of these limitations are: (i) EBITDA/Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, working capital needs; and (ii) although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets
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being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and EBITDA/Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect any cash requirements for such capital expenditures. In evaluating Adjusted EBITDA, you should be aware that in the future we may incur expenses that are the same as or similar to some of the adjustments in this presentation. Our presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. Because of these limitations, EBITDA/Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as principal indicators of our performance.
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation to Net (Loss)/Income
| |
Year ended December 31, |
Year ended December 31, |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
2010 | 2009 | |||||
| |
(In thousands) |
||||||
Net (loss)/income |
$ | (102,341 | ) | $ | 36,089 | ||
Depreciation |
77,045 | 60,906 | |||||
Amortization of deferred drydocking & special survey costs |
7,426 | 8,295 | |||||
Interest income |
(964 | ) | (2,428 | ) | |||
Interest expense |
41,158 | 36,208 | |||||
EBITDA |
$ | 22,324 | $ | 139,070 | |||
Impairment loss |
71,509 | | |||||
Gain on sale of vessel |
(1,916 | ) | | ||||
Gain on contract termination(1) |
(12,600 | ) | | ||||
Comprehensive Financing Plan related fees(2) |
24,326 | | |||||
Amortization of deferred finance costs and write-offs |
1,340 | 1,301 | |||||
Stock based compensation |
1,685 | 47 | |||||
Realized loss on derivatives |
88,302 | 34,104 | |||||
Non-cash changes in fair value of derivatives |
48,879 | 29,497 | |||||
Adjusted EBITDA |
$ | 243,849 | $ | 204,019 | |||
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EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation to Net Cash Provided from Operating Activities
| |
Year ended December 31, |
Year ended December 31, |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
2010 | 2009 | ||||||
| |
(In thousands) |
|||||||
Net cash provided by operating activities |
$ | 78,792 | $ | 93,166 | ||||
Net increase/(decrease) in current and non-current assets |
19,329 | 4,055 | ||||||
Net (increase)/decrease in current and non-current liabilities |
(35,036 | ) | (4,643 | ) | ||||
Net interest |
40,194 | 33,780 | ||||||
Amortization of finance costs |
(1,340 | ) | (889 | ) | ||||
Written off finance costs |
(1,084 | ) | (412 | ) | ||||
Payments for dry-docking/special survey |
3,122 | 7,259 | ||||||
Gain on sale of vessel |
1,916 | | ||||||
Stock based compensation |
(1,685 | ) | (47 | ) | ||||
Impairment loss |
(71,509 | ) | | |||||
Change in fair value of derivative instruments |
(10,375 | ) | 6,801 | |||||
EBITDA |
$ | 22,324 | $ | 139,070 | ||||
Impairment loss |
71,509 | | ||||||
Gain on sale of vessels |
(1,916 | ) | | |||||
Gain on contract termination(1) |
(12,600 | ) | | |||||
Comprehensive Financing Plan related fees(2) |
24,326 | | ||||||
Amortization of deferred finance costs and write-offs |
1,340 | 1,301 | ||||||
Stock based compensation(3) |
1,685 | 47 | ||||||
Realized loss on derivatives |
88,302 | 34,104 | ||||||
Non-cash changes in fair value of derivatives |
48,879 | 29,497 | ||||||
Adjusted EBITDA |
$ | 243,849 | $ | 204,019 | ||||
EBITDA decreased by $116.8 million, to $22.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $139.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The decrease is mainly attributed to an impairment loss of $71.5 million recorded in the year ended December 31, 2010, increased losses on fair value of derivatives of $73.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009, increased stock based compensation of $1.6 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 and fees related to our comprehensive financing plan contemplated by our Bank Agreement described herein of $24.3 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, which were partially offset by a gain on sale of vessel of $1.9 million recorded in the year ended December 31, 2010, a gain on contract termination of $12.6 million recorded in the year ended December 31, 2010 and increased operating revenues of $40.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009.
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Adjusted EBITDA increased by $39.8 million, to $243.8 million in the year ended December 31, 2010, from $204.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2009. The increase is mainly attributable to increased operating revenues of $40.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009, as well as reduced operating expenses of $4.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009, which were partially offset by increased general and administrative expenses of $6.3 million (excluding $2.5 million of fees adjusted as discussed in the table above) in the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009.
Bank Agreement
As noted above, on January 24, 2011, we entered into an agreement, which is referred to as the Bank Agreement, that, upon its effectiveness on March 4, 2011, superseded, amended and supplemented the terms of each of our then-existing credit facilities ("Pre-existing Credit Facilities") (other than our credit facilities with KEXIM and KEXIM-ABN Amro which are not covered thereby), and provides for, among other things, revised amortization schedules, maturities, interest rates, financial covenants, events of defaults, guarantee and security packages, and waivers of our covenant violations as of December 31, 2010. As of the date of the agreement, we were in compliance with the revised financial covenants. In accordance with the terms of the Bank Agreement and the intercreditor agreement (the "Intercreditor Agreement"), which we entered into with each of the lenders participating under the Bank Agreement to govern the relationships between the lenders thereunder, under the New Credit Facilities and the Hyundai Samho Vendor Financing, each as described below, the lenders participating thereunder will continue to provide our then-existing credit facilities (with any revolving loans converted to term loans) and waived any existing covenant breaches or defaults under such credit facilities and amended the covenants under such credit facilities.
Interest and Fees
Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, borrowings under each of our Pre-existing Credit Facilities, which excludes the KEXIM and KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facilities which are not covered by the Bank Agreement, will bear interest at an annual interest rate of LIBOR plus a margin of 1.85%.
We were required to pay a so-called margin adjustment fee payment equal to 1.55 percentage points of the applicable balance under our previously existing Aegean Baltic-HSH Nordbank-Piraeus Bank credit facility, calculated for the period from July 1, 2009 to the closing date under the Bank Agreement of March 4, 2011, to the applicable lenders. During the year ended December 31, 2010, $15.8 million of such margin adjustment fees were accrued and recorded as interest expense in the Statement of Income or capitalized into the cost of the vessels under construction. The remaining margin adjustment fees of $1.8 million were incurred in the first quarter of 2011 and the total amount of $17.6 million was cash settled in March 2011. Upon satisfaction of the conditions to the Bank Agreement, we also became obligated to make a waiver adjustment payment, in respect of prior waivers obtained in 2009 and 2010, such that each lender under any of the Pre-existing Credit Facilities would receive cumulative waiver fees during the preceding period of 0.2% of its pre-existing financing commitments. This fee totaled $2.6 million and was paid in January 2011, with the recognition of such amount to be deferred and amortized through our consolidated Statement of Income over the life of the respective facilities.
We are also required to pay an amendment fee equal to 0.50% of the outstanding commitments under each pre-existing financing arrangement, or $12.5 million in the aggregate, of which 20% was paid upon signing the commitment letter for the Bank Agreement in August 2010, 40% became payable, and was paid, in March 2011 upon satisfaction of the conditions to the Bank Agreement and the remaining 40% due on December 31, 2014. Such fees paid will be deferred and amortized over the life of the respective credit facilities for accounting purposes.
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We were also required to pay a fee of 0.25% of the total committed amount contemplated by the August 6, 2010 commitment letter for the Bank Agreement for the period starting from August 6, 2010 up until March 4, 2011 (the effective date of the agreement) and will be amended to 0.75% thereafter, which is capitalized into cost of vessels under construction as it relates to undrawn committed debt designated for specific newbuildings, and a $4.38 million amendment fee (of which $1.22 million was paid in December 2010 and $3.16 million was paid in January 2011 relating to conditions in respect of the Sinosure-CEXIM credit facility. For accounting purposes this amendment fee will be deferred and amortized over the life of the new debt with the interest rate method. Finally, all reasonable expenses of the lenders, including the fees and expenses of their financial and legal advisors, will also be payable by the Company.
Principal Payments
Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, we are not required to repay any outstanding principal amounts under our existing credit facilities, other than the KEXIM and KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facilities which are not covered by the Bank Agreement, until after March 31, 2013; thereafter we will be required to make quarterly principal payments in fixed amounts, in relation to our total debt commitments from our lenders under the Bank Agreement and New Credit Facilities (see "New Credit Facilities" below), as specified in the table below:
| |
February 15, | May 15, | August 15, | November 15, | December 31, | Total | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 |
| 19,481,395 | 21,167,103 | 21,482,169 | | 62,130,667 | ||||||||||||||
2014 |
22,722,970 | 21,942,530 | 22,490,232 | 24,654,040 | | 91,809,772 | ||||||||||||||
2015 |
26,736,647 | 27,021,750 | 25,541,180 | 34,059,102 | | 113,358,679 | ||||||||||||||
2016 |
30,972,971 | 36,278,082 | 32,275,598 | 43,852,513 | | 143,379,164 | ||||||||||||||
2017 |
44,938,592 | 36,690,791 | 35,338,304 | 31,872,109 | | 148,839,796 | ||||||||||||||
2018 |
34,152,011 | 37,585,306 | 44,398,658 | 45,333,618 | 65,969,274 | 227,438,867 | ||||||||||||||
Total |
786,956,945 | |||||||||||||||||||
Furthermore, an additional variable payment in such amount that, together with the fixed principal payment (as disclosed above), equals 92.5% of Actual Free Cash Flow for such quarter until the earlier of (x) the date on which our consolidated net leverage is below 6:1 and (y) May 15, 2015; and thereafter through maturity, which will be December 31, 2018 for each covered credit facility, we will be required to make quarterly principal payments in fixed amounts as specified in the Bank Agreement and described above plus an additional payment in such amount that, together with the fixed principal payment, equals 89.5% of Actual Free Cash Flow for such quarter. In addition, any additional amounts of cash and cash equivalents (but during the final principal payment period described above only such additional amounts in excess of the greater of (1) $50 million of accumulated unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and (2) 2% of our consolidated debt), would be applied first to the prepayment of the New Credit Facilities and after the New Credit Facilities are repaid, to the Pre-existing Credit Facilities. Under the Bank Agreement, "Actual Free Cash Flow" with respect to each credit facility covered thereby would be equal to revenue from the vessels collateralizing such facility, less the sum of (a) interest expense under such credit facility, (b) pro-rata portion of payments under our interest rate swap arrangements, (c) interest expense and scheduled amortization under the Hyundai Samho Vendor Financing and (d) per vessel operating expenses and pro rata per vessel allocation of general and administrative expenses (which are not permitted to exceed the relevant budget by more than 20%), plus (e) the pro-rata share of operating cash flow of any Applicable Second Lien Vessel (which will mean, with respect to a Pre-existing Credit facility, a vessel with respect to which the participating lenders under such credit facility have a second lien security interest and the first lien credit facility has
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been repaid in full). The last payment due on December 31, 2018, will also include the unamortized remaining principal debt balances, as such amounts will be determinable following the fixed and variable amortization.
Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, we will continue to be required to make any mandatory prepayments provided for under the terms of our existing credit facilities and will be required to make additional prepayments as follows
Any equity proceeds retained by us and not used within 12 months for certain specified purposes would be applied for prepayment of the New Credit Facilities and then to the Pre-existing Credit Facilities. We would also be required to prepay the portion of a credit facility attributable to a particular vessel upon the sale or total loss of such vessel; the termination or loss of an existing charter for a vessel, unless replaced within a specified period by a similar charter acceptable to the lenders; or the termination of a newbuilding contract. Our respective lenders under our Pre-existing Credit Facilities covered by the Bank Agreement and the New Credit Facilities may, at their option, require us to repay in full amounts outstanding under such respective credit facilities, upon a "Change of Control" of the Company, which for these purposes is defined as (i) Dr. Coustas ceasing to be our Chief Executive Officer, (ii) our common stock ceasing to be listed on the NYSE (or other recognized stock exchange), (iii) a change in the ultimate beneficial ownership of the capital stock of any of our subsidiaries or ultimate control of the voting rights of those shares, (iv) Dr. Coustas and members of his family ceasing to collectively own over one-third of the voting interest in our outstanding capital stock or (v) any other person or group controlling more than 20% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.
Covenants and Events of Defaults
Under the terms of our Pre-existing Credit Facilities, before the effectiveness of the Bank Agreement entered into in January 2011, we were in breach of various covenants in such credit facilities, for which we had not obtained waivers. In addition, although we were in compliance with the covenants in our credit facilities with KEXIM and KEXIM-ABN Amro, under the cross default provisions of our credit facilities the lenders could require immediate repayment of the related outstanding debt. On January 24, 2011, we entered into the Bank Agreement that supersedes, amends and supplements the terms of each of our existing credit facilities (other than under our KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facility which is not covered thereby, but which, respectively, has been aligned with those covenants below through June 30, 2012 under the supplemental letter signed on August 12, 2010 and our KEXIM credit facility, which contains only a collateral coverage covenant) and provides for, among other things, revised financial covenants and waives all covenant breaches or defaults under our existing credit facilities as of December 31, 2010, as well as amends the covenant levels under such existing credit facilities as described below. We were in compliance with these covenants as of the date of filing of this annual report.
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Under the Bank Agreement, the financial covenants under each of our existing credit facilities (other than under our KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facility which is not covered thereby, but which, respectively, has been aligned with those covenants below through June 30, 2012 under the supplemental letter signed on August 12, 2010 and our KEXIM credit facility, which contains only a collateral coverage covenant of 130%), have been reset to require us to:
For the purpose of these covenants, the market value of our vessels will be calculated, except as otherwise indicated above, on a charter-inclusive basis (using the present value of the "bareboat-equivalent" time charter income from such charter) so long as a vessel's charter has a remaining duration at the time of valuation of more than 12 months plus the present value of the residual value of the relevant vessel (generally equivalent to the charter free value of an equivalent a vessel today at the age such vessel would be at the expiration of the existing time charter). The market value for newbuilding vessels, all of which currently have multi-year charters, would equal the lesser of such amount and the newbuilding vessel's book value.
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Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, the existing credit facilities also contain customary events of default, including those relating to cross-defaults to other indebtedness, defaults under our swap agreements, non-compliance with security documents, material adverse changes to our business, a Change of Control as described above, a change in our Chief Executive Officer, our common stock ceasing to be listed on the NYSE (or another recognized stock exchange), a change in, or breach of the management agreement by, the manager for the vessels securing the respective credit facilities and cancellation or amendment of the time charters (unless replaced with a similar time charter with a charterer acceptable to the lenders) for the vessels securing the respective credit facilities.
Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, we generally will not be permitted to incur any further financial indebtedness or provide any new liens or security interests, unless such security is provided for the equal and ratable benefit of each of the lenders party to the Intercreditor Agreement, other than security arising by operation of law or in connection with the refinancing of outstanding indebtedness, with the consent, not to be unreasonably withheld, of all lenders with a lien on the security pledged against such outstanding indebtedness. In addition, we would not be permitted to pay cash dividends or repurchase shares of our capital stock unless (i) our consolidated net leverage is below 6:1 for two consecutive quarters and (ii) the ratio of the aggregate market value of our vessels to our outstanding indebtedness exceeds 125% for four consecutive quarters and provided that an event of default has not occurred and we are not, and after giving effect to the payment of the dividend, in breach of any covenant.
Collateral and Guarantees
Each of our Pre-existing Credit Facilities and swap arrangements, to the extent applicable, continue to be secured by their previous collateral on the same basis, and received, to the extent not previously provided, pledges of the shares of our subsidiaries owning the vessels collateralizing the applicable facilities, cross-guarantees from each subsidiary owning the vessels collateralizing such facilities, assignment of the refund guarantees in relation to any newbuildings funded by such facilities and other customary shipping industry collateral.
New Credit Facilities (Aegean Baltic BankHSH NordbankPiraeus Bank, RBS, ABN Amro Club facility, Club Facility and Citi-Eurobank)
On January 24, 2011, we also entered into agreements for the following new credit facilities: (i) a $123.75 million credit facility provided by Aegean BalticHSH NordbankPiraeus Bank, which is secured by Hull No. S459, Hull No. S462 and the CMA