The listed shipping company Global Ship Lease (GSL), owned by George Youroukos, continued its strong profitability in the first quarter of 2025, as – despite the uncertainty at the international level – it recorded a significant increase in key economic indicators, compared to the same period last year.
Commenting on the company’s progress, Youroukos (executive chairman of GSL) referred to geopolitical factors, which – as he said – play an important role in the entire transport sector and the broader economy.
In this context, the Greek shipowner pointed out that the company has managed to strengthen the coverage of charters on its vessels at attractive prices.
“The US tariff situation remains dynamic and, as we all see unfolding in real time, the initial impact has been significant for supply chains,” he noted.
However, according to him, the scope and nature of future impacts are difficult to predict, making flexibility more important than ever.
Against this backdrop, Global Ship Lease has recorded higher demand for medium and small-sized container ships from liners, as – as emphasized by Youroukos- they seek to maximize flexibility in their networks to serve changing cargo flows.
It is noted that Global Ship Lease’s fleet consists of 69 containerships, with a carrying capacity from 2,207 to 11,040 TEUs and an average age of 17.5 years.
As of March 31, 2025, the average remaining duration of the company’s charters was 2.3 years on a TEU-weighted basis.
High performance
In the first quarter of 2025, the company’s revenue amounted to 191 million dollars, compared to 179.5 million in the same period of 2024 (an increase of 6.3%), while profits amounted to 121 million dollars, compared to 89.5 million in the previous year (an increase of 35.2%).
The listed company’s contracted revenue amounted to 1.9 billion dollars. Including options from charterers, the amount reaches 2.37 billion dollars.
The operating expenses of the ships (salary costs, repairs, insurance, etc.) increased by 4.4%, to 50.0 million dollars in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 47.9 million dollars in the corresponding period of the previous year.
According to the company, the increase of 2.1 million dollars is mainly due to the addition of the four newly acquired vessels and the impact of inflation.
