Navios Partners’ profit edges up

The result comes during a time of expansion for Angeliki Frangou's fleet, as available days rose from 1,890 in Q1 2013 to 2,668 in Q1 2014 and voyage revenues rose from $50.2m to $57.4m.

For the first quarter 99.88% of available ship days were utilised with daily time charter equivalent of $20,785, down from $26,244 per day in the same quarter last year. Between the two quarters, Navios' operating fleet grew from 21 to 30 vessels.

The 23-strong owned fleet of panamaxes, ultra-handymaxes, capesizes and five 6,800 teu boxships, along with two chartered-in panamaxes, has covered 85.1% of its available days in 2014, 51.8% in 2015 and 38.2% for 2016.

Navios Partners is forecasting a charter-out rate of $22,063 for 2014, $27,065 for 2015 and $29,401 for 2016. For 2014, the charter-in rate for the vessels not owned by the company is $13,619.

Angeliki Frangou, chairman and ceo of Navios Partners, commented: "I am pleased with our results for this quarter, in which we achieved EBITDA of $69.0m and net income of $18.4m. Our quarterly distribution of $0.4425, represents an annual distribution of $1.77 per unit and a current yield of 9.4%. Navios Partners is committed to this distribution through 2015.