GLOBAL Ship Lease, the New York Stock Exchange-listed containership owner, has posted stronger first-quarter results that suggest little, if any, negative impact from ongoing geopolitical disruption.

Executive chairman George Youroukos said that geopolitical factors “loomed large” through the transportation industry and wider economy, but the company had still managed to build up its charter coverage “at attractive rates”.

On the subject of US tariffs, Youroukos said that “as we are all seeing play out in real time, the initial impact is disruptive to supply chains”.

However, “the breadth and nature of future ramifications are difficult to predict, making flexibility, optionality, and agility more important than ever”.

“Against this backdrop, we have seen continued demand for our mid-sized and smaller containerships from the liner operators as they look to maximise flexibility in their networks to accommodate changing cargo flows,” Youroukos said.

“Moments of pronounced uncertainty and volatility have the potential to yield opportunities with outsized returns for a focused, disciplined, and well-capitalised shipowner, and it is our intention to be precisely that.”

Greece-based GSL added $352m in contracted revenues during the most recent quarter, bringing its backlog to close to $1.9bn, with a weighted average period of 2.3 years.

As of March 31, GSL had a fleet of 69 boxships, including 39 wide-beam post-panamaxes.

In the early stages of this year, the owner completed the sales of three vessels of more than 20 years of age, while taking delivery of the last of a series of four high-reefer capacity eco 9,000 teu containerships it contracted to purchase in the last quarter of 2024.

Net income available to common shareholders rose by more than 35% compared with last year’s first quarter, to $121m.

Operating revenues increased by 6.3% to $191m, GSL said.

GSL has declared an increased dividend of $0.525 per share for the first quarter.