Aggeliki Frangou appears optimistic about the bulk cargo freight market

Angeliki Frangou, President and CEO of Navios Maritime Holdings, “sees” better days for the bulk cargo freight market. On the occasion of the announcement of the results of the fourth quarter of the flagship of the shipping group of the Greek shipowner, which includes four companies, Mrs. Frangou expressed optimism for the dry cargo industry in the near future

The demand for bulk dry cargo in the first half of 2020 was hit by the pandemic and the lockdown of the international economy. In the second half of the year, however, as in the first quarter of 2021, the picture was reversed as the fiscal packages and other economic policy measures implemented lead to the recovery of the world economy. Ms. Frangou also said that the IMF expects global GDP to grow by 6.0% in 2021, the highest growth in 50 years.

Mass vaccination programs are ongoing, facilitating a return to normalcy. Therefore, she added, we are optimistic about the demand for dry cargo ships in 2021 and added that the company is able to take advantage of the expected increase as 51.7% of the available fleet operational days are in the spot market.

Navios Maritime Holdings, which controls and manages a fleet of 45 bulk cargo carriers, announced revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 at $ 102.353 million compared to $ 118.881 million in 2019 and an adjusted EBITDA of $ 37.563 million a year ago. The company recorded extraordinary accounting losses totaling $ 73.9 million. Excluding these charges, Navios Maritime Holdings posted a loss of $ 20.5 million against a profit of $ 19.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.