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Forum List » Business News and Headlines SEC Filings, Earing Reports, Press Releases  
Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. Reports Operating Results (10-K)
Posted by: gurufocus (IP Logged)
Date: March 15, 2012 06:07PM
Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (EGLE) filed Annual Report for the period ended 2011-12-31. Highlight of Business Operations:For the twelve months commencing on March 15, 2011, the Company will be responsible to charter these ten vessels, while KLC will be responsible for any shortfall between the vessels' actual daily earnings and $17,000 per vessel per day. Any such shortfall shall be treated as a "claim for common benefit" under the Korean laws of corporate Rehabilitation, and is payable in full.Time charter rates on two newbuildings still to be delivered to KLC at the time of the agreement were adjusted to $17,000 per vessel per day with the same profit-sharing arrangement as above. On May 20, 2011 and July 13, 2011, respectively, the Company took delivery of these two newbuilding vessels, and the Company has chartered them out on the spot and short-term time charter markets. KLC will be responsible for any shortfall between the vessels' actual daily earnings and $17,000 per vessel per day. Any such shortfall shall be treated as a "claim for common benefit" under the Korean laws of corporate Rehabilitation, payable in full. On January 25, 2011, Korea Line Corporation ("KLC"), the charterer for ten of our vessels and two of our newbuilding vessels, which were delivered to us in May 2011 and July 2011, respectively, filed for protective receivership in Seoul, South Korea. We have temporarily taken back the employment of all affected chartered vessels and re-chartered them out on the spot and short-term time charter markets, pursuant to terms approved by the Korean court. Earnings during this interim period were used to offset the charter hire otherwise due from KLC. On March 3, 2011, we reached a comprehensive agreement with the receivers of KLC regarding twelve time-chartered vessels impacted by KLC's decision to file for protective receivership, which was certified by the joint receivers on March 15, 2011. As of December 31, 2011, we are owed approximately $4.9 million from KLC in connection with our fourth quarter 2011 activities relating to the shortfall between the vessels' actual daily earnings and the $17,000 per vessel per day that KLC is responsible under the comprehensive agreement noted above. For more details on our charter agreements with KLC, please see “Item 1. Business – Our Customers.” our strategy is to balance between long-term time charters and revenues generated by short-term time charters and voyage charters to maximize our financial performance throughout shipping cycles. We have entered into time and voyage charter employment contracts for all the vessels in our operating fleet. We charter some of our vessels pursuant to one- to three-year time charters to allow us to take advantage of the stable cash flow and high utilization rates that are associated with medium to long-term time charters. Several of the newly constructed vessels are on long term charters with an average duration of eight years. The vessels that are on charters whose revenues are linked to the Baltic Supramax index generally have durations of one-year or less. These index linked charters and voyage charters will provide us with the revenue upside as the market improves. We believe that this structure provides significant visibility to our future financial results and allows us to take advantage of the stable cash flows and high utilization rates that are associated with medium- to long-term time charters, while at the same time providing us with the revenue upside potential from the index linked or short-term time charters or voyage charters when the dry bulk carter market improves. All the charters provide for fixed semi-monthly payments in advance. While we remain focused on securing charters with fixed base rates, we have also entered into contracts with fixed minimum rates and profit sharing arrangements, enabling us to benefit from an increasing rate environment while still minimizing downside risk. We regularly monitor the dry bulk shipping market and based on market conditions we may consider taking advantage of short-term charter rates, Where we have assumed an existing charter obligation or enter into a time charter with the existing charterer in connection with the purchase of a vessel at charter rates that are less than market charter rates, we record a liability in Fair value below contract value of time charters acquired based on the difference between the assumed charter rate and the market charter rate for an equivalent vessel. Conversely, where we assume an existing charter obligation or enter into a time charter with the existing charterer in connection with the purchase of a vessel at charter rates that are above market charter rates, we record an asset in Fair value above contract value of time charters acquired, based on the difference between the market charter rate and the contracted charter rate for an equivalent vessel. This determination is made at the time the vessel is delivered to us, and such assets and liabilities are amortized to revenue over the remaining period of the charter. The determination of the fair value of acquired assets and assumed liabilities requires us to make significant assumptions and estimates of many variables including market charter rates, expected future charter rates, future vessel operation expenses, the level of utilization of our vessels and our weighted average cost of capital. The use of different assumptions could result in a material change in the fair value of these items, which could have a material impact on our financial position and results of operations. In the event that the market charter rates relating to the acquired vessels are lower than the contracted charter rates at the time of their respective deliveries to us, our net earnings for the remainder of the terms of the charters may be adversely affected although our cash flows will not be so affected.
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