Harry Vafias says geopolitics are for the time being ‘quite opaque’

StealthGas chief executive Harry Vafias warned that the current global geopolitics that can have a strong influence on shipping markets are for the time being quite opaque with too many developing situations.

“We are optimistic for the future albeit evermore cautiously,” he said in the company’s unaudited financial and operating results for the 2024 fourth quarter.

“As successful as we have been we are established in the shipping markets long enough not to forget that we operate in a volatile sector where fortunes can be made and lost quite rapidly,” he added.

The Nasdaq-listed ship-owning company in the LPG sector StealthGas, which is now “net debt free,” after having further reduced its debt in the current quarter, according to the company’s CEO Vafias, has concluded on January 21 the previously announced sale of the Gas Shuriken, with the vessel being delivered to its new owners.

Meanwhile, the company concluded multiple chartering arrangements of three or more months duration.

Specifically, StealthGas concluded a twelve months time charter for its 2024-built LPG carrier Eco Wizard until December 2025, a twelve months time charter for