Salamon AG looks forward to a successful year 2023

Panama tanker Fedor with record payout of 60%

2023 was a year of records for the tankers of Dortmund-based Salamon AG. The three tankers in the Panamax class achieved average annual rates of between USD 39,500 and USD 42,500 per day and were able to make substantial payouts.

The industry information service KMI kapital-markt intern (9/2024) wrote: “Hard to believe, but they still exist – earnings pearls in the shipping fund market.” Thanks to the excellent earnings situation, two tankers were able to repay their existing residual debts in full and ahead of schedule in the first half of the year. All three tankers built between 2003 and 2009 are now debt-free. Freed from interest and repayment pressure, the ships were able to make record distributions: CAPE TAMPA 15.2 % plus a special repayment of USD 4.4 million, CAPE TAFT 20 % plus a special repayment of USD 4.1 million: The Panama tanker Fedor made distributions from ongoing business operations totalling 60%. In some cases, investors were able to enjoy multiple distributions per quarter with payments of between 10% and 20% per quarter. “This is probably a record for the German KG-Ship market,” says Hans Wömpener, Bielefeld, who has been Chairman of the Advisory Board for many years. According to his recollections from almost 50 years of ship fund investments, the previous record holder was a container ship that paid out a remarkable 48% in one year. CEO Christian Salamon comments: “We are happy about this development and that we can continue to operate the tanker FEDOR despite the fact that it has exceeded this important age limit of 20 years. Until now, the vast majority of tankers had to be scrapped at the end of their 20th year of service. It is only due to special circumstances that this ship can now continue to sail for around 2 years – and that in an extremely strong market.”

The deployment of the Capesize bulker BULK NORWAY was unspectacular. Rates were at a moderate level in the first half of the year. It was not until a stronger 4th quarter with rates of around USD 27,000 that average annual rates of USD 16,000 were achieved. Although this was sufficient to service the debt, it was not possible to make payments to the shareholders.

For the new year, the management expects a further stabilisation of the bulker market and a decline in the rate level for tankers. “When you’re on top of a mountain,” says Christian Salamon, “and that was the rate level in 2023, it’s known to go downhill. But the expectations for tankers in 2024 will also be good and rates will be very adequate. We are still in the high mountains and we expect a strong year in terms of distributions.”