Item 3.    Key Information

Selected Financial Data

        The following table presents selected consolidated financial and other data of Danaos Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries for each of the five years in the five year period ended December 31, 2010, reflecting the discontinued operations of the drybulk carriers owned by subsidiaries of Danaos Corporation between 2006 and 2007 as discontinued operations. The table should be read together with "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects." The selected consolidated financial data of Danaos Corporation is derived from our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or "U.S. GAAP", and have been audited for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 by PricewaterhouseCoopers S.A., an independent registered public accounting firm.

        Our audited consolidated statements of income, stockholders' equity and cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008, and the consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2010

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and 2009, together with the notes thereto, are included in "Item 18. Financial Statements" and should be read in their entirety.

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        As a privately held company, we paid aggregate dividends of $244.6 million in 2005. We paid no dividends in 2006. We paid our first quarterly dividend since becoming a public company in October 2006, of $0.44 per share, on February 14, 2007, and subsequent dividends of $0.44 per share, $0.44 per share, $0.465 per share and $0.465 per share on May 18, 2007, August 17, 2007, November 16, 2007 and February 14, 2008. In addition, we paid a dividend of $0.465 per share on May 14, 2008, August 20, 2008 and November 19, 2008, respectively. In the first quarter of 2009, our board of directors decided to suspend the payment of further cash dividends as a result of market conditions in the international shipping industry. Our payment of dividends is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors. Our loan agreements and the provisions of Marshall Islands law also contain restrictions that affect our ability to pay dividends and we generally will not be permitted to pay cash dividends under the terms of the bank agreement ("Bank Agreement") and new financing agreements for which we have entered into definitive agreements in 2011. See "Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors—Risks Inherent in Our Business—We are generally not permitted to pay cash dividends under our financing arrangements." See "Item 8. Financial Information—Dividend Policy."

Capitalization and Indebtedness

        Not Applicable.

Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

        Not Applicable.

Risk Factors

Risks Inherent in Our Business

Our business, and an investment in our securities, involves a high degree of risk, including risks relating to the downturn in the container shipping market, which continues to adversely affect the major liner companies which charter our vessels and has had and may continue to have an adverse effect on our earnings and affect our compliance with our loan covenants and could result in us having to restructure our obligations.

        The abrupt and dramatic downturn in the containership market, from which we derive all of our revenues, has severely affected the container shipping industry, particularly the large liner companies to which we charter our vessels, and has adversely affected our business. The average daily charter rate of a 4,400 TEU containership, which represents the approximate average TEU capacity of our vessels, decreased from $36,000 in May 2008 to $26,000 in January 2011, after reaching a low of $6,400 in December 2009. The decline in charter rates is due to various factors, including the reduced availability of trade financing for purchases of containerized cargo carried by sea, which resulted in a significant decline in the volume of cargo shipments, and the level of global trade, including exports from China to Europe and the United States. The decline in the containership market has affected the major liner companies which charter our vessels, some of which have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations. It also affects the value of our vessels, which follow the trends of freight rates and containership charter rates, and the earnings on our charters, and similarly, affects our cash flows and liquidity. Before the covenant levels in our financing arrangements were reset at levels at which we are now in compliance in the first quarter of 2011, we had to obtain waivers from the lenders under all but one of our credit facilities because we had not been in compliance with the covenants contained in our loan agreements. The decline in the containership charter market has had and may continue to have additional adverse consequences for our industry including limited financing for vessel acquisitions and newbuildings, a less active secondhand market for the sale of vessels, charterers not performing under, or requesting modifications of, existing time charters and widespread loan covenant defaults in the container shipping industry. This significant downturn in the container

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shipping industry could adversely affect our ability to service our debt and other obligations and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

The current low containership charter rates and containership vessel values and any future declines in these rates and values will affect our ability to comply with various covenants in our credit facilities.

        Our credit facilities, which are secured by mortgages on our vessels, require us to maintain specified collateral coverage ratios and satisfy financial covenants, including requirements based on the market value of our containerships and our net worth. The market value of containerships is sensitive to, among other things, changes in the charter markets with vessel values deteriorating in times when charter rates are falling and improving when charter rates are anticipated to rise. The depressed state of the containership charter market coupled with the prevailing difficulty in obtaining financing for vessel purchases has adversely affected containership values since the middle of 2008. These conditions have led to a significant decline in the fair market values of our vessels and the extremely low prevailing interest rates have led to significant declines in the fair value of our interest rate swap agreements. As a result, we had to obtain waivers of breaches of covenants in certain of our loan agreements. Under the Bank Agreement we entered into in the first quarter of 2011 for the restructuring of our existing credit facilities and new credit facilities, the financial covenants in our financing arrangements were reset to levels, with which we currently comply, that gradually tighten over the period through the maturity of these financing arrangements in 2018.

        If we are unable to comply with the financial and other covenants under our other credit facilities, our lenders could accelerate our indebtedness and foreclose on the vessels in our fleet, which would impair our ability to continue to conduct our business. Any such acceleration, because of the cross-default provisions in our loan agreements, could in turn lead to additional defaults under our other loan agreements and the consequent acceleration of the indebtedness thereunder and the commencement of similar foreclosure proceedings by our other lenders. If our indebtedness were accelerated in full or in part, it would be very difficult in the current financing environment for us to refinance our debt or obtain additional financing and we could lose our vessels if our lenders foreclose upon their liens, which would adversely affect our ability to continue our business.

We are dependent on the ability and willingness of our charterers to honor their commitments to us for all of our revenues and the failure of our counterparties to meet their obligations under our time charter agreements, or under our shipbuilding contracts, could cause us to suffer losses or otherwise adversely affect our business.

        We derive all of our revenues from the payment of charter hire by our charterers. Our 52 containerships are currently employed under time charters with 14 liner companies, with 89% of our revenues in 2010 generated from six such companies. We have also arranged long-term time charters for each of our 13 contracted newbuilding containerships as of March 31, 2011. We could lose a charterer or the benefits of a time charter if:

•

the charterer fails to make charter payments to us because of its financial inability, disagreements with us, defaults on a payment or otherwise;



•

the charterer exercises certain specific limited rights to terminate the charter;



•

we do not take delivery of a contracted newbuilding containership at the agreed time; or



•

the charterer terminates the charter because the ship fails to meet certain guaranteed speed and fuel consumption requirements and we are unable to rectify the situation or otherwise reach a mutually acceptable settlement.

        A number of major liner companies, including some of our charterers, have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations and request charter modifications, as well as an

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intention to reduce the number of vessels they charter-in, which circumstances may increase the likelihood of losing a charterer or the benefits of a time charter.

        If we lose a time charter, we may be unable to re-deploy the related vessel on terms as favorable to us or at all. We would not receive any revenues from such a vessel while it remained unchartered, but we may be required to pay expenses necessary to maintain the vessel in proper operating condition, insure it and service any indebtedness secured by such vessel.

        The time charters on which we deploy our containerships generally provide for charter rates that are significantly above current market rates. The ability and willingness of each of our counterparties to perform its obligations under their time charters with us will depend on a number of factors that are beyond our control and may include, among other things, general economic conditions, the condition of the container shipping industry, which has experienced severe declines since the second half of 2008, and the overall financial condition of the counterparty. Furthermore, the combination of a reduction in cash flow resulting from declines in world trade, a reduction in borrowing bases under credit facilities and the reduced availability of debt and equity financing may result in a significant reduction in the ability of our charterers to make charter payments to us, with a number of large liner companies announcing efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations. For example, Senator Lines, the charterer of one of our vessels defaulted on its charter due to its insolvency in the first quarter of 2009 and the replacement charter we were able to arrange was at a reduced rate. The likelihood of a charterer seeking to renegotiate or defaulting on its charter with us may be heightened to the extent such customers are not able to utilize the vessels under charter from us, and instead leave such chartered vessels idle, as was the case with certain of our vessels in 2010 and one vessel in the first quarter of 2011. Should a counterparty fail to honor its obligations under agreements with us, it may be difficult to secure substitute employment for such vessel, and any new charter arrangements we secure may be at lower rates given currently depressed situation in the charter market.

        If our charterers fail to meet their obligations to us or attempt to renegotiate our charter agreements, as part of a court-led restructuring or otherwise, we could sustain significant losses which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as our ability to pay dividends, if any, in the future, and comply with the covenants in our credit facilities. In such an event, we could be unable to service our debt and other obligations and could ourselves have to restructure our obligations.

We depend upon a limited number of customers, some of which have acknowledged financial difficulties and announced efforts to restructure their obligations, for a large part of our revenues. The loss of these customers could adversely affect us.

        Our customers in the containership sector consist of a limited number of liner operators. The percentage of our revenues derived from these customers has varied in past years. In the past several years, CMA CGM, HMM Korea and Yang Ming have represented substantial amounts of our revenue. In 2010, approximately 89% of our revenues from continuing operations were generated by six customers, China Shipping, CMA CGM, HMM Korea, Maersk, Yang Ming and ZIM, and in 2009 these six customers generated approximately 94% of our revenues from continuing operations. As of the date of this filing, we have charters for 4 of our existing vessels and none of our newbuildings with China Shipping, for 5 of our existing vessels and 5 of our newbuildings with CMA CGM, for 11 of our existing vessels and 5 of our newbuildings with HMM Korea, for 4 of our existing vessels and none of our newbuildings with Maersk, for 7 of our existing vessels and none of our newbuildings with Yang Ming and 6 of our existing vessels with ZIM. We expect that a limited number of liner companies may continue to generate a substantial portion of our revenues, some of which liner companies including CMA CGM and Zim publicly acknowledged the financial difficulties facing them, reported substantial losses in 2009 and announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations, including under charter contracts. Although many liner companies reported substantially improved

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financial performances in 2010, if any of these liner operators cease doing business or do not fulfill their obligations under their charters for our vessels, due to the financial pressure on these liner companies from the significant decreases in demand for the seaborne transport of containerized cargo or otherwise, our results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected. Further, if we encounter any difficulties in our relationships with these charterers, our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Although we have arranged charters for each of our 13 contracted newbuilding vessels, we are dependent on the ability and willingness of the charterers to honor their commitments under such charters as it would be difficult to redeploy such vessels at equivalent rates, or at all, if charter markets continue to experience weakness.

        We are dependent on the ability and willingness of the charterers to honor their commitments under the multi-year time charters we have arranged for each of our 13 contracted newbuilding vessels as of March 31, 2011. Despite modest improvements in the containership market in 2010, the combination of a reduction of cash flow resulting from declines in world trade, a reduction in borrowing bases under credit facilities and the reduced availability of debt or equity financing may result in a significant reduction in the ability of our charterers to make charter payments to us. Furthermore, the surplus of containerships available at lower charter rates and lower demand for our customers' liner services could negatively affect our charterers' willingness to perform their obligations under the time charters for our newbuildings, which provide for charter rates significantly above current market rates. The decline in the containership market has affected the major liner companies which charter our vessels, some of which have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations. The combination of the current surplus of containership capacity, and the expected significant increase in the size of the world containership fleet over the next few years, as the high volume of containerships currently being constructed are delivered, would make it difficult to secure substitute employment for any of our newbuilding vessels if our counterparties failed to perform their obligations under the currently arranged time charters, and any new charter arrangements we were able to secure would be at lower rates given currently depressed charter rates. As a result of the foregoing, we could sustain significant losses which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as our ability to comply with the covenants in our credit facilities. If the charterers do not honor their commitments under these charters, we may have rights for certain claims, subject to the terms and conditions of each charter. However, pursuing these claims may be time consuming, uncertain and ultimately insufficient to compensate us for any failure of the charterers to honor their commitments.

Our profitability and growth depend on the demand for containerships and the recent economic slowdown, and the impact on consumer confidence and consumer spending, resulted in and may continue to result in a decrease in containerized shipping volume, adversely affect charter rates. Charter hire rates for containerships may continue to experience volatility or settle at depressed levels, which would, in turn, adversely affect our profitability.

        Demand for our vessels depends on demand for the shipment of cargoes in containers and, in turn, containerships. The ocean-going container shipping industry is both cyclical and volatile in terms of charter hire rates and profitability. Containership charter rates peaked in 2005 and generally stayed strong until the middle of 2008, when the effects of the recent economic crisis began to affect global container trade and in 2008 and 2009, the ocean-going container shipping industry experienced severe declines, with charter rates at significantly lower levels than the historic highs of the prior few years. Despite some improvement in 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, rates remain well below long term averages, and that improvement may not be sustainable and rates could decline again. Variations in containership charter rates result from changes in the supply and demand for ship capacity and changes in the supply and demand for the major products transported by containerships. The factors affecting

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the supply and demand for containerships and supply and demand for products shipped in containers are outside of our control, and the nature, timing and degree of changes in industry conditions are unpredictable. The recent global economic slowdown and disruptions in the credit markets significantly reduced demand for products shipped in containers and, in turn, containership capacity.

        Factors that influence demand for containership capacity include:

•

supply and demand for products suitable for shipping in containers;



•

changes in global production of products transported by containerships;



•

the distance that container cargo products are to be moved by sea;



•

the globalization of manufacturing;



•

global and regional economic and political conditions;



•

developments in international trade;



•

changes in seaborne and other transportation patterns, including changes in the distances over which containerized cargoes are transported;



•

environmental and other regulatory developments; and



•

currency exchange rates.

        Factors that influence the supply of containership capacity include:

•

the number of new building deliveries;



•

the scrapping rate of older containerships;



•

the price of steel and other raw materials;



•

changes in environmental and other regulations that may limit the useful life of containerships;



•

the number of containerships that are out of service; and



•

port congestion.

        Consumer confidence and consumer spending have deteriorated significantly in 2008 and 2009, and have only recovered modestly. Consumer purchases of discretionary items, many of which are transported by sea in containers, generally decline during periods where disposable income is adversely affected or there is economic uncertainty and, as a result, liner company customers may ship fewer containers or may ship containers only at reduced rates. Any such decrease in shipping volume could adversely impact our liner company customers and, in turn, demand for containerships. As a result, charter rates and vessel values in the containership sector have decreased significantly and the counterparty risk associated with the charters for our vessels has increased.

        Our ability to recharter our containerships upon the expiration or termination of their current charters and the charter rates payable under any renewal or replacement charters will depend upon, among other things, the prevailing state of the charter market for containerships. The charters for 10 of our existing vessels expire between April and December 2011. If the charter market is depressed, as it has been with only marginal improvement since the second half of 2008, when our vessels' charters expire, we may be forced to recharter the containerships, if we were able to recharter such vessels at all, at sharply reduced rates and possibly at a rate whereby we incur a loss. If we were unable to recharter our vessels on favorable terms, we may potentially scrap certain of such vessels, which may reduce our earnings or make our earnings volatile. The same issues will exist if we acquire additional containerships, if we are able to recharter such vessels at all, and attempt to obtain multi-year charter arrangements as part of an acquisition and financing plan.

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We may be unable to draw down the full amount of our credit facilities, pursuant to the terms of the Bank Agreement with respect to restructuring our credit facilities, and we may have difficulty obtaining other financing, particularly if the market values of our vessels further decline.

        There are restrictions on the amount of cash that can be advanced to us under our credit facilities based on the market value of the vessel or vessels in respect of which the advance is being made, and other customary conditions to such advances. If the market value of our fleet, which has experienced substantial recent declines, declines further, we may not be able to draw down the full amount of certain of our credit facilities, pursuant to the terms of the Bank Agreement with respect to our credit facilities, obtain other financing or incur debt on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. We may also not be able to obtain additional financing and refinance our debt, particularly for our newbuilding vessels which have remaining installment payments well in excess of their current charter-free market value. Any inability for us to draw down the full amount of our credit facilities due to the market value of our vessels or otherwise could prevent us from completing the acquisition of our 13 newbuilding containerships and cause us to forfeit the deposit payments and other capitalized predelivery expenses we have made for such newbuildings, which totaled $0.8 billion as of March 31, 2011 and otherwise materially adversely effect our liquidity and financial condition.

The Bank Agreement in respect of our financing arrangements imposes stringent operating and financial restrictions on us which may, among other things, limit our ability to grow our business.

        Under the terms of the Bank Agreement, our credit facilities and financing arrangements impose more stringent operating and financial restrictions on us than those previously contained in our credit facilities. These restrictions, as described in "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects," generally preclude us from:

•

incurring additional indebtedness without the consent of our lenders, except to the extent the proceeds of such additional indebtedness is used to repay existing indebtedness;



•

creating liens on our assets, generally, unless for the equitable and ratable benefit of our existing lenders;



•

selling capital stock of our subsidiaries;



•

disposing of assets without the consent of the lenders with loans collateralized by such assets and, in case of such approval, using the proceeds thereof to repay indebtedness;



•

using a significant portion of the proceeds from equity issuances for any purpose other than to repay indebtedness;



•

using more than a minimal amount of our cash from operations from purposes other than repayment of indebtedness;



•

engaging in transactions that would constitute a change of control, as defined in such financing agreement, without repaying all of our indebtedness in full;



•

paying dividends, absent a substantial reduction in our leverage; or



•

changing our manager or certain members of our management.

        As a result we will have reduced discretion in operating our business and may have difficulty growing our business beyond our currently contracted newbuilding vessels. In addition, our respective lenders under these financing arrangements will, at their option, be able to require us to repay in full amounts outstanding under such respective credit facilities, upon a "Change of Control" of our company, which for these purposes and as further described in "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Bank Agreement", includes Dr. Coustas ceasing to be our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Coustas and members of his family ceasing to collectively own over one-third of the voting

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interest in our outstanding capital stock or any other person or group controlling more than 20% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.

        The Bank Agreement and our financing arrangements contain financial covenants requiring us to:

•

maintain a ratio of (i) the market value of all of the vessels in our fleet, on a charter-inclusive basis, plus the net realizable value of any additional collateral, to (ii) our consolidated total debt above specified minimum levels gradually increasing from 90% through December 31, 2011 to 130% from September 30, 2017 through September 30, 2018;



•

maintain a minimum ratio of (i) the market value of the nine vessels (Hull Nos. S456, S457, S458, S459, S460, S461, S462, S463 and S4004) collateralizing the New Credit Facilities, calculated on a charter-free basis, plus the net realizable value of any additional collateral, to (ii) our aggregate debt outstanding under the New Credit Facilities of 100% from September 30, 2012 through September 30, 2018;



•

maintain minimum free consolidated unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, less the amount of the aggregate variable principal amortization amounts, described above, of $30.0 million at the end of each calendar quarter, other than during 2012 when we will be required to maintain a minimum amount of $20.0 million;



•

ensure that our (i) consolidated total debt less unrestricted cash and cash equivalents to (ii) consolidated EBITDA (defined as net income before interest, gains or losses under any hedging arrangements, tax, depreciation, amortization and any other non-cash item, capital gains or losses realized from the sale of any vessel, finance charges and capital losses on vessel cancellations and before any non-recurring items and excluding any accrued interest due to us but not received on or before the end of the relevant period; provided that non-recurring items excluded from this calculation shall not exceed 5% of EBITDA calculated in this manner) for the last twelve months does not exceed a maximum ratio gradually decreasing from 12:1 on December 31, 2010 to 4.75:1 on September 30, 2018;



•

ensure that the ratio of our (i) consolidated EBITDA for the last twelve months to (ii) net interest expense (defined as interest expense (excluding capitalized interest), less interest income, less realized gains on interest rate swaps (excluding capitalized gains) and plus realized losses on interest rate swaps (excluding capitalized losses)) exceeds a minimum level of 1.50:1 through September 30, 2013 and thereafter gradually increasing to 2.80:1 by September 30, 2018; and



•

maintain a consolidated market value adjusted net worth (defined as the amount by which our total consolidated assets adjusted for the market value of our vessels in the water less cash and cash equivalents in excess of our debt service requirements exceeds our total consolidated liabilities after excluding the net asset or liability relating to the fair value of derivatives as reflected in our financial statements for the relevant period) of at least $400 million.

The provisions of our KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facility, which is not covered by the Bank Agreement, have been aligned with the above covenants through June 30, 2012 under the supplemental letter signed on August 12, 2010 and our Sinosure-CEXIM credit facility has similar financial covenants and a collateral coverage covenant of 125% per tranche as described in "Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects." In addition, under our KEXIM credit facility, we must comply with a collateral coverage covenant of 130%.

        If we fail to meet our payment or covenant compliance obligations under the terms of the Bank Agreement covering our credit facilities or our other financing arrangements, our lenders could then accelerate our indebtedness and foreclose on the vessels in our fleet securing those credit facilities, which could result in cross-defaults under our other credit facilities, and the consequent acceleration of

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the indebtedness thereunder and the commencement of similar foreclosure proceedings by other lenders. The loss of any of these vessels would have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

Substantial debt levels could limit our flexibility to obtain additional financing and pursue other business opportunities.

        As of March 31, 2011, we had outstanding indebtedness of $2.6 billion and we expect to incur substantial additional indebtedness, including under our existing credit facilities, in aggregate principal amounts of $0.8 billion, as we finance the $1.0 billion aggregate remaining purchase price for our 13 newbuilding containerships and, as market conditions warrant over the medium to long-term, further grow our fleet. Although we are not scheduled to make repayments of principal until March 31, 2013 under our existing credit facilities, other than our KEXIM and KEXIM-ABN Amro credit facilities and Hyundai Vendor Financing, this level of debt could have important consequences to us, including the following:

•

our ability to obtain additional financing, if necessary, for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other purposes may be impaired or such financing may be unavailable on favorable terms;



•

we will need to use substantially all of our cash from operations, as required under the terms of our financing arrangements for which we have reached agreements in principle, to make principal and interest payments on our debt, reducing the funds that would otherwise be available for operations, future business opportunities and, if permitted by our lenders and reinstated, dividends to our stockholders;



•

our debt level could make us more vulnerable than our competitors with less debt to competitive pressures or a downturn in our business or the economy generally; and



•

our debt level may limit our flexibility in responding to changing business and economic conditions.

        Our ability to service our debt will depend upon, among other things, our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. Due to the restrictions on the use of cash from operations and other sources for purposes other than the repayment of indebtedness, even if we otherwise generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt, we may still be forced to take actions such as reducing or delaying our business activities, acquisitions, investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing our debt or seeking additional equity capital. We may not be able to effect any of these remedies on satisfactory terms, or at all. In addition, restrictions in the Bank Agreement in respect of our credit facilities and a lack of liquidity in the debt and equity markets could hinder our ability to refinance our debt or obtain additional financing on favorable terms in the future.

Disruptions in world financial markets and the resulting governmental action in the United States and in other parts of the world could have a further material adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, and could cause the market price of our common stock to decline further.

        Although showing signs of recovery, the United States and other parts of the world have exhibited weak economic trends and were in a recession in 2008 and 2009. For example, the credit markets in the United States have experienced significant contraction, de-leveraging and reduced liquidity, and the United States federal government and state governments have implemented and are considering a broad variety of governmental action and/or new regulation of the financial markets. Securities and futures markets and the credit markets are subject to comprehensive statutes, regulations and other

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requirements. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, other regulators, self-regulatory organizations and securities exchanges are authorized to take extraordinary actions in the event of market emergencies, and may effect changes in law or interpretations of existing laws.

        Global financial markets and economic conditions were severely disrupted and volatile in 2008 and 2009. Credit markets and the debt and equity capital markets have been exceedingly distressed. These issues, along with the re-pricing of credit risk and the difficulties being experienced by financial institutions have made, and will likely continue to make, it difficult to obtain financing. As a result of the disruptions in the credit markets, the cost of obtaining bank financing has increased as many lenders have increased interest rates, enacted tighter lending standards, required more restrictive terms, including higher collateral ratios for advances, shorter maturities and smaller loan amounts, refused to refinance existing debt at maturity at all or on terms similar to our current debt. Furthermore, certain banks that have historically been significant lenders to the shipping industry have announced an intention to reduce or cease lending activities in the shipping industry. Although we have not experienced any difficulties drawing on committed facilities to date, we may be unable to fully draw on the available capacity under our existing credit facilities in the future if our lenders are unwilling or unable to meet their funding obligations. We cannot be certain that financing will be available on acceptable terms or at all. If financing is not available when needed, or is available only on unfavorable terms, we may be unable to meet our obligations, including under our newbuilding contracts, as they come due. Our failure to obtain the funds for these capital expenditures would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In the absence of available financing, we also may be unable to take advantage of business opportunities or respond to competitive pressures, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations.

        We face risks attendant to changes in economic environments, changes in interest rates, and instability in the banking and securities markets around the world, among other factors. Major market disruptions and the current adverse changes in market conditions and the regulatory climate in the United States and worldwide may adversely affect our business or impair our ability to borrow amounts under our credit facilities or any future financial arrangements. We cannot predict how long the current market conditions will last. However, these recent and developing economic and governmental factors, together with the concurrent decline in charter rates and vessel values, may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows, have caused the price of our common stock to decline and could cause the price of our common stock to decline further.

Weak economic conditions throughout the world, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, and including due to the recent European Union sovereign debt default fears, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

        Negative trends in the global economy emerged in 2008 and continued into 2009, and economic conditions remain relatively weak. In particular, recent concerns regarding the possibility of sovereign debt defaults by European Union member countries, including Greece and Portugal resulted in devaluation of the Euro, disruptions of financial markets throughout the world and have led to concerns regarding consumer demand both in Europe and other parts of the world, including the United States. The deterioration in the global economy has caused, and may continue to cause, a decrease in worldwide demand for certain goods and, thus, container shipping. Continuing economic instability could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In particular, we anticipate a significant number of the port calls made by our vessels will continue to involve the loading or unloading of containers in ports in the Asia Pacific region. As a result, negative changes in economic conditions in any Asia Pacific country, and particularly in China, may exacerbate the effect of the significant downturns in the economies of the United States and the European Union and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position and results of operations, as well as our future prospects. In recent years, China has been one of the world's fastest growing

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economies in terms of gross domestic product, which has had a significant impact on shipping demand. China and other countries in the Asia Pacific region may, however, experience slowed or even negative economic growth in the future. Moreover, the current slowdown in the economies of the United States, the European Union and other Asian countries may further adversely affect economic growth in China and elsewhere. In particular, the possibility of sovereign debt defaults by European Union member countries, including Greece and Portugal, and any resulting weakness of the Euro, including against the Chinese renminbi, could adversely affect European consumer demand, particularly for goods imported, many of which are shipped in containerized form, from China and elsewhere in Asia, and reduce the availability of trade financing which is vital to the conduct of international shipping. Our business, financial condition, results of operations, ability to pay dividends, if any, as well as our future prospects, will likely be materially and adversely affected by a further economic downturn in any of these countries.

The earthquake and resulting tsunami and nuclear power plant crisis that struck Japan in March 2011 could, in the near term, reduce container volumes to and from areas of Japan, including Tokyo, which could result in reductions in prevailing charter rates.

        The March 2011 earthquake in Japan and resulting tsunami have caused several nuclear power plants located in Japan to fail and emit radiation and possibly could result in meltdowns that could have catastrophic effects. Although the full effect of these disasters, both on the Japanese and global economies, is not currently known, a number of liner companies have restricted vessels from calling on ports in Tokyo and Northern Japan. In addition, authorities in other countries, including China and the U.S., have begun screening containerships that have visited Japan or nearby waters for nuclear radiation, causing delays and reduced attractiveness of any contaminated vessels for subsequent employment. These disasters will for some period of time result in reduced container volumes to and from Japan, which has the world's third largest economy, and could potentially result in reduced charter rates. In addition, there can be no assurances that our vessels trading in the Pacific will not be impacted by the possible effects of spreading radiation.

Demand for the seaborne transport of products in containers decreased dramatically in 2008 and 2009, placing significant financial pressure on liner companies and, in turn, decreasing demand for containerships and increasing our charter counterparty risk.

        The sharp decline in global economic activity in 2008 and 2009 resulted in a substantial decline in the demand for the seaborne transportation of products in containers, reaching the lowest levels in decades. Consequently, the cargo volumes and freight rates achieved by liner companies, with which all of the existing and contracted newbuilding vessels in our fleet are chartered, have declined sharply, reducing liner company profitability and, at times, failing to cover the costs of liner companies operating vessels on their shipping lines. In response to such reduced cargo volume and freight rates, the number of vessels being actively deployed by liner companies decreased, with almost 12% of the world containership fleet estimated to be out of service at its high point as of December 2009, although the idle capacity of the global containership fleet had decreased to 2.3% of total fleet capacity as of the end of January 2011. Moreover, newbuilding containerships with an aggregate capacity of 0.39 million TEUs, representing approximately 28% of the world's fleet capacity as of January 2011, were under construction, which may exacerbate the surplus of containership capacity further reducing charterhire rates or increasing the number of unemployed vessels. Although liner companies generally reported improved financial performance in 2010, in 2009 a number of major liner companies, including some of our customers, announced plans to reduce the number of vessels they charter-in as part of efforts to reduce the size of their fleets to better align fleet capacity with the reduced demand for marine transportation of containerized cargo. In some instances, these liner companies have announced efforts to obtain third party aid and restructure their obligations, including obligations under charter contracts.

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        The reduced demand and resulting financial challenges faced by our liner company customers has significantly reduced demand for containerships and may increase the likelihood of one or more of our customers being unable or unwilling to pay us the contracted charterhire rates, which are generally significantly above prevailing charter rates, under the charters for our vessels. We generate all of our revenues from these charters and if our charterers fail to meet their obligations to us, we would sustain significant losses which could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations, as well as our ability to comply with covenants in our credit facilities.

An over-supply of containership capacity may prolong or further depress the current low charter rates and adversely affect our ability to recharter our containerships at profitable rates or at all and, in turn, reduce our profitability.

        While the size of the containership order book has declined from historic highs since mid-2008, at the end of January 2011 newbuilding containerships with an aggregate capacity of 0.39 million TEUs, were under construction representing approximately 28% of existing global fleet capacity. The size of the orderbook is large relative to historic levels and, notwithstanding that some orders may be cancelled or delayed, will likely result in a significant increase in the size of the world containership fleet over the next few years. An over-supply of containership capacity, particularly in conjunction with the currently low level of demand for the seaborne transport of containers, could exacerbate the recent decrease in charter rates or prolong the period during which low charter rates prevail. We do not hedge against our exposure to changes in charter rates, due to increased supply of containerships or otherwise. As such, if the current low charter rate environment persists, or a further reduction occurs, during a period when the current charters for our containerships expire or are terminated, we may only be able to recharter those containerships at reduced or unprofitable rates or we may not be able to charter those vessels at all. The charters for 10 of our existing vessels expire between April 2011 and December 2011.

Our profitability and growth depends on our ability to expand relationships with existing charterers and to obtain new time charters, for which we will face substantial competition from established companies with significant resources as well as new entrants.

        One of our objectives over the mid- to long-term is, when market conditions warrant, to acquire additional containerships in conjunction with entering into additional multi-year, fixed-rate time charters for these vessels. We employ our vessels in highly competitive markets that are capital intensive and highly fragmented, with a highly competitive process for obtaining new multi-year time charters that generally involves an intensive screening process and competitive bids, and often extends for several months. Generally, we compete for charters based on price, customer relationship, operating expertise, professional reputation and the size, age and condition of our vessels. In recent months, in light of the dramatic downturn in the containership charter market, other containership owners, including many of the KG-model shipping entities, have chartered their vessels to liner companies at extremely low rates, including at unprofitable levels, increasing the price pressure when competing to secure employment for our containerships. Container shipping charters are awarded based upon a variety of factors relating to the vessel operator, including:

•

shipping industry relationships and reputation for customer service and safety;



•

container shipping experience and quality of ship operations (including cost effectiveness);



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quality and experience of seafaring crew;



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the ability to finance containerships at competitive rates and financial stability in general;



•

relationships with shipyards and the ability to get suitable berths;

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•

construction management experience, including the ability to obtain on-time delivery of new ships according to customer specifications;



•

willingness to accept operational risks pursuant to the charter, such as allowing termination of the charter for force majeure events; and



•

competitiveness of the bid in terms of overall price.

        We face substantial competition from a number of experienced companies, including state-sponsored entities and major shipping companies. Some of these competitors have significantly greater financial resources than we do, and can therefore operate larger fleets and may be able to offer better charter rates. We anticipate that other marine transportation companies may also enter the containership sector, including many with strong reputations and extensive resources and experience. This increased competition may cause greater price competition for time charters and, in stronger market conditions, for secondhand vessels and newbuildings.

        In addition, a number of our competitors in the containership sector, including several that are among the largest charter owners of containerships in the world, have been established in the form of a German KG (Kommanditgesellschaft), which provides tax benefits to private investors. Although the German tax law was amended to significantly restrict the tax benefits to taxpayers who invest after November 10, 2005, the tax benefits afforded to all investors in the KG-model shipping entities continue to be significant, and such entities will continue to be attractive investments. Their focus on these tax benefits allows the KG-model shipping entities more flexibility in offering lower charter rates to liner companies. Further, since the charter rate is generally considered to be one of the principal factors in a charterer's decision to charter a vessel, the rates offered by these sizeable competitors can have a depressing effect throughout the charter market.

        As a result of these factors, we may be unable to compete successfully with established companies with greater resources or new entrants for charters at a profitable level, or at all, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may have more difficulty entering into multi-year, fixed-rate time charters if a more active short-term or spot container shipping market develops.

        One of our principal strategies is to enter into multi-year, fixed-rate containership time charters particularly in strong charter rate environments, although in weaker charter rate environments, such as the one that currently exists, we would generally expect to target somewhat shorter charter terms of three to six years or even shorter periods. As more vessels become available for the spot or short-term market, we may have difficulty entering into additional multi-year, fixed-rate time charters for our containerships due to the increased supply of containerships and the possibility of lower rates in the spot market and, as a result, our cash flows may be subject to instability in the long-term. A more active short-term or spot market may require us to enter into charters based on changing market rates, as opposed to contracts based on a fixed rate, which could result in a decrease in our cash flows and net income in periods when the market for container shipping is depressed, as it is currently, or insufficient funds are available to cover our financing costs for related containerships.

Delays in deliveries of our additional 13 contracted newbuilding vessels could harm our business.

        The 13 contracted newbuilding vessels in our contracted fleet as of March 31, 2011 are expected to be delivered to us at various times between April 2011 and June 2012. Delays in the delivery of these vessels, or any other newbuilding containerships we may order or any secondhand vessels we may agree to acquire, would delay our receipt of revenues under the arranged time charters and could result in the cancellation of those time charters or other liabilities under such charters, and therefore adversely affect our anticipated results of operations. In 2009, we reached agreements to delay the delivery of

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most of our containership newbuildings for periods of up to one year and on May 25, 2010, we signed a cancellation agreement with Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. to cancel three 6,500 TEU newbuilding containerships, the HN N-216 , the HN N-217 and the HN N-218 , and recorded an impairment loss of $71.5 million. As of March 31, 2011, we expect to take delivery of eight newbuilding vessels in the remainder of 2011 and five in 2012. The remaining capital expenditure installments for these vessels were approximately $558.1 million for the remainder of 2011 and $450.8 million for 2012. Delivery delays, such as those arranged in 2009, delay our funding requirements for the installment payments to purchase these vessels, however, they also delay our receipt of contracted revenues under the charters for such vessels.

        The delivery of the newbuilding containerships could also be delayed because of, among other things:

•

work stoppages or other labor disturbances or other events that disrupt the operations of the shipyard building the vessels;



•

quality or engineering problems;



•

changes in governmental regulations or maritime self-regulatory organization standards;



•

lack of raw materials;



•

bankruptcy or other financial crisis of the shipyard building the vessel;



•

our inability to obtain requisite financing or make timely payments;



•

a backlog of orders at the shipyard building the vessel;



•

hostilities or political or economic disturbances in the countries where the containerships are being built;



•

weather interference or catastrophic event, such as a major earthquake or fire;



•

our requests for changes to the original vessel specifications;



•

requests from the liner companies, with which we have arranged charters for such vessels, to delay construction and delivery of such vessels due to weak economic conditions and container shipping demand, in addition to those delayed deliveries we have already arranged;



•

shortages of or delays in the receipt of necessary construction materials, such as steel;



•

our inability to obtain requisite permits or approvals; or



•

a dispute with the shipyard building the vessel.

        The shipbuilders with which we have contracted for our 13 newbuildings, as of March 31, 2011, may be affected by the ongoing instability of the financial markets and other market conditions, including with respect to the fluctuating price of commodities and currency exchange rates. In addition, the refund guarantors under our newbuilding contracts, which are banks, financial institutions and other credit agencies, may also be affected by financial market conditions in the same manner as our lenders and, as a result, may be unable or unwilling to meet their obligations under their refund guarantees. If our shipbuilders or refund guarantors are unable or unwilling to meet their obligations to us, this will impact our acquisition of vessels and may materially and adversely affect our operations and our obligations under our credit facilities.

        The delivery of any secondhand containership we may agree to acquire could be delayed because of, among other things, hostilities or political disturbances, non-performance of the purchase agreement with respect to the vessels by the seller, our inability to obtain requisite permits, approvals or financing or damage to or destruction of the vessels while being operated by the seller prior to the delivery date.

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Certain of the containerships in our contracted fleet are subject to purchase options held by the charterers of the respective vessels, which, if exercised, could reduce the size of our containership fleet and reduce our future revenues.

        The chartering arrangements with respect to the CMA-CGM Moliere , the CMA-CGM Musset , the CMA-CGM Nerval , the CMA CGM Rabelais and the CMA CGM Racine include options for the charterer, CMA-CGM, to purchase the vessels eight years after the commencement of their respective charters, which, based on the respective expected delivery dates for these vessels, is expected to fall in September 2017, March 2018, May 2018, July 2018 and August 2018, respectively, each for $78.0 million. The option exercise prices with respect to these vessels reflect an estimate of market prices, which are in excess of the vessels' book values net of depreciation, at the time the options become exercisable. If CMA-CGM were to exercise these options with respect to any or all of these vessels, the expected size of our combined containership fleet would be reduced and, if there were a scarcity of secondhand containerships available for acquisition at such time and because of the delay in delivery associated with commissioning newbuilding containerships, we could be unable to replace these vessels with other comparable vessels, or any other vessels, quickly or, if containership values were higher than currently anticipated at the time we were required to sell these vessels, at a cost equal to the purchase price paid by CMA-CGM. Consequently, if these purchase options were to be exercised, the expected size of our combined containership fleet would be reduced, and as a result our anticipated level of revenues would be reduced.

Containership values have recently decreased significantly, and may remain at these depressed levels, or decrease further, and over time may fluctuate substantially. If these values are low at a time when we are attempting to dispose of a vessel, we could incur a loss.

        Due to the sharp decline in world trade and containership charter rates, the market values of the containerships in our fleet are currently significantly lower than prior to the downturn in the second half of 2008. Containership values may remain at current low, or lower, levels for a prolonged period of time and can fluctuate substantially over time due to a number of different factors, including:

•

prevailing economic conditions in the markets in which containerships operate;



•

changes in and the level of world trade;



•

the supply of containership capacity;



•

prevailing charter rates; and



•

the cost of retrofitting or modifying existing ships, as a result of technological advances in vessel design or equipment, changes in applicable environmental or other regulations or standards, or otherwise.

        In the future, if the market values of our vessels experience further deterioration or we lose the benefits of the existing charter arrangements for any of our vessels and can not replace such arrangements with charters at comparable rates, we may be required to record an impairment charge in our financial statements, which could adversely affect our results of operations. If a charter expires or is terminated, we may be unable to re-charter the vessel at an acceptable rate and, rather than continue to incur costs to maintain and finance the vessel, may seek to dispose of it. Our inability to dispose of the containership at a reasonable price could result in a loss on its sale and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We are generally not permitted to pay cash dividends under our financing arrangements.

        Prior to 2009, we paid regular cash dividends on a quarterly basis. In the first quarter of 2009, our board of directors suspended the payment of cash dividends as a result of market conditions in the

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international shipping industry and in particular the sharp decline in charter rates and vessel values in the containership sector. Until such market conditions significantly improve, it is unlikely that we will reinstate the payment of dividends and if reinstated, it is likely that any dividend payments would be at reduced levels. The Bank Agreement, which restructures our credit facilities and provides new financing arrangements, does not permit us to pay cash dividends or repurchase shares of our common stock until the termination of such agreements in 2018, absent a significant decrease in our leverage.

We are a holding company and we depend on the ability of our subsidiaries to distribute funds to us in order to satisfy our financial obligations.

        We are a holding company and our subsidiaries conduct all of our operations and own all of our operating assets. We have no significant assets other than the equity interests in our subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to pay our contractual obligations and, if permitted by our lenders and reinstated, to make any dividend payments in the future depends on our subsidiaries and their ability to distribute funds to us. The ability of a subsidiary to make these distributions could be affected by a claim or other action by a third party, including a creditor, or by the law of their respective jurisdictions of incorporation which regulates the payment of dividends by companies. If we are unable to obtain funds from our subsidiaries, even if our lenders agreed to allow dividend payments, our board of directors may exercise its discretion not to declare or pay dividends. If we reinstate dividend payments in the future, we do not intend to seek to obtain funds from other sources to make such dividend payments, if any.

If we are unable to fund our capital expenditures, we may not be able to continue to operate some of our vessels or grow our fleet, which would have a material adverse effect on our business.

        We must make substantial capital expenditures to maintain the operating capacity of our fleet and to grow our fleet. Maintenance capital expenditures include capital expenditures associated with drydocking a vessel, modifying an existing vessel or acquiring a new vessel to the extent these expenditures are incurred to maintain the operating capacity of our fleet. These expenditures could increase as a result of changes in the cost of labor and materials; customer requirements; increases in our fleet size or the cost of replacement vessels; governmental regulations and maritime self-regulatory organization standards relating to safety, security or the environment; and competitive standards.

        In order to fund our capital expenditures, other than installment payments for our currently contracted newbuilding vessels which we expect to fund with existing cash resources, cash from operations and borrowings under our existing financing arrangements, we generally plan to use equity financing given the restrictions that are contained in our restructured credit facilities and new financing arrangements on the use of cash from our operations, debt financings and asset sales for purposes other than debt repayment. Our ability to access the capital markets through future offerings may be limited by our financial condition at the time of any such offering as well as by adverse market conditions resulting from, among other things, general economic conditions and contingencies and uncertainties that are beyond our control. Moreover, only a portion of the proceeds from any equity financings that we are able to complete will be permitted to be used for purposes other than debt repayment under our restructured and new financing arrangements. Our failure to obtain the funds for necessary future capital expenditures could limit our ability to continue to operate some of our vessels or grow our fleet or impair the values of our vessels and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

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The derivative contracts we have entered into to hedge our exposure to fluctuations in interest rates could result in higher than market interest rates and reductions in our stockholders' equity, as well as charges against our income.

        We have entered into interest rate swaps, in an aggregate notional amount of $3.9 billion as of December 31, 2010 (of which $0.4 billion related to forward starting arrangements), generally for purposes of managing our exposure to fluctuations in interest rates applicable to indebtedness under our credit facilities, which were advanced at floating rates based on LIBOR, as well as two interest rate swap agreements, in an aggregate notional amount of $0.1 million as of December 31, 2010, converting fixed interest rate exposure under our credit facilities advanced at a fixed rate of interest to floating rates based on LIBOR. Our hedging strategies, however, may not be effective and we may again incur substantial losses, as we did in 2010 and 2009, if interest rates move materially differently from our expectations.

        To the extent our existing interest rate swaps do not, and future derivative contracts may not, qualify for treatment as hedges for accounting purposes we would recognize fluctuations in the fair value of such contracts in our consolidated statements of income. If our estimates of the forecasted incurrence of debt change, as they did as of December 31, 2010 due to the deferred delivery dates arranged for certain of our newbuildings and as a result of the modified amortization of our existing credit facilities under the terms of the restructuring agreement, our interest rate swap arrangements may cease to be effective as hedges and, therefore, cease to qualify for treatment as hedges for accounting purposes. In addition, changes in the fair value of our derivative contracts, even those that qualify for treatment as hedges for accounting and financial reporting purposes, are recognized in "Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss" on our consolidated balance sheet in relation to the effective portion of our cash flow hedges and in our consolidated income statement in relation to the ineffective portion, and can affect compliance with the net worth covenant requirements in our credit facilities.

        Our financial condition could also be materially adversely affected to the extent we do not hedge our exposure to interest rate fluctuations under our financing arrangements under which loans have been advanced at a floating rate based on LIBOR. Any hedging activities we engage in may not effectively manage our interest rate exposure or have the desired impact on our financial conditions or results of operations.

Because we generate all of our revenues in United States dollars but incur a significant portion of our expenses in other currencies, exchange rate fluctuations could hurt our results of operations.

        We generate all of our revenues in United States dollars and for the year ended December 31, 2010, we incurred approximately 37% of our vessels' expenses in currencies other than United States dollars. This difference could lead to fluctuations in net income due to changes in the value of the United States dollar relative to the other currencies, in particular the Euro. Expenses incurred in foreign currencies against which the United States dollar falls in value could increase, thereby decreasing our net income. We have not hedged our currency exposure and, as a result, our U.S. dollar-denominated results of operations and financial condition could suffer.

Due to our lack of diversification following the sale of our drybulk carriers, adverse developments in the containership transportation business could reduce our ability to meet our payment obligations and our profitability.

        In August 2006, we agreed to sell the six drybulk carriers in our fleet, with an aggregate capacity of 342,158 deadweight tons, or dwt, for an aggregate of $143.5 million. In the first quarter of 2007, we delivered five of these vessels to the purchaser, which is not affiliated with us, for an aggregate of $118.0 million and the remaining vessel to the purchaser for $25.5 million when its charter expired in

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the second quarter of 2007. We rely exclusively on the cash flows generated from charters for our vessels that operate in the containership sector of the shipping industry. Due to our lack of diversification, adverse developments in the container shipping industry have a significantly greater impact on our financial condition and results of operations than if we maintained more diverse assets or lines of business.

We may have difficulty properly managing our growth through acquisitions of additional vessels and we may not realize the expected benefits from these acquisitions, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and performance.

        To the extent market conditions warrant and we are able to obtain sufficient financing for such purposes in compliance with the restrictions in our financing arrangements, we intend to grow our business over the medium to long-term by ordering newbuilding containerships and through selective acquisitions of additional vessels. Future growth will primarily depend on:

•

locating and acquiring suitable vessels;



•

identifying and consummating vessel acquisitions or joint ventures relating to vessel acquisitions;



•

enlarging our customer base;



•

developments in the charter markets in which we operate that make it attractive for us to expand our fleet;



•

managing any expansion;



•

the operations of the shipyard building any newbuilding containerships we may order; and



•

obtaining required financing, within the restrictions placed on the use of funds by our existing financing arrangements, on acceptable terms.

        Although charter rates and vessel values have recently declined significantly, along with the availability of debt to finance vessel acquisitions, during periods in which charter rates are high, vessel values generally are high as well, and it may be difficult to acquire vessels at favorable prices. Moreover, our financing arrangements impose significant restrictions in our ability to use debt financing, or cash from operations, asset sales or equity financing, for purposes, such as vessel acquisitions, other than debt repayment without the consent of our lenders. In addition, growing any business by acquisition presents numerous risks, such as managing relationships with customers and integrating newly acquired assets into existing infrastructure. We cannot give any assurance that we will be successful in executing our growth plans or that we will not incur significant expenses and losses in connection with our future growth efforts.

Under the terms of a plea agreement, our manager pled to one count of negligent discharge of oil from the Henry (ex CMA CGM Passiflore) and one count of obstruction of justice, based on a charge of attempted concealment of the source of the discharge. Any violation of the terms of the plea agreement, or any penalties or heightened environmental compliance plan requirements imposed as a result of any alleged discharge from any other vessel in our fleet calling at U.S. ports could negatively affect our operations and business.

        In the summer of 2001, one of our vessels, the Henry (ex CMA CGM Passiflore ), experienced engine damage at sea that resulted in an accumulation of oil and oily water in the vessel's engine room. The U.S. Coast Guard found oil in the overboard discharge pipe from the vessel's oily water separator. Subsequently, on July 2, 2001, when the vessel was at anchor in Long Beach, California, representatives of our manager notified authorities of the presence of oil on the water on the starboard side of the vessel. On July 3, 2001, oil was found in an opening through which seawater is taken in to cool the vessel's engines. In connection with these events, our manager entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney, on behalf of the government, which was filed with the U.S. District Court on June 20,

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2006, pursuant to which our manager agreed to plead guilty to one count of negligent discharge of oil and one count of obstruction of justice, based on a charge of attempted concealment of the source of the discharge. Our manager also agreed to a probation period of three years and to pay an aggregate of $500,000 in penalties in connection with the charges of negligent discharge and obstruction of justice, with half of the penalties to be applied to community service projects that would benefit, restore or preserve the environment and ecosystems in the central California area. Consistent with the government's practice in similar cases, our manager agreed to develop and implement an approved third-party consultant monitored environmental compliance plan, designate an internal corporate compliance manager, and arrange for, fund and complete a series of audits of its fleet management offices and of waste streams of the vessels it manages, including all of the vessels in our fleet that call at U.S. ports, as well as an independent, third-party focused environmental compliance plan audit. On August 14, 2006, the court accepted our manager's guilty plea to the two counts and, on December 4, 2006, sentenced our manager in accordance with the terms of the plea agreement. Our manager has developed and is implementing the environmental compliance plan. Any violation of this environmental compliance plan or of the terms of our manager's probation or any penalties, restitution or heightened environmental compliance plan requirements that are imposed relating to alleged discharges in any other action involving our fleet or our manager could negatively affect our operations and business.

We are subject to regulation and liability under environmental laws that could require significant expenditures and affect our cash flows and net income.

        Our business and the operation of our vessels are materially affected by environmental regulation in the form of international, national, state and local laws, regulations, conventions and standards in force in international waters and the jurisdictions in which our vessels operate, as well as in the country or countries of their registration, including those governing the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of oil spills and other contamination, air emissions, wastewater discharges and ballast water management. Because such conventions, laws, and regulations are often revised, we cannot predict the ultimate cost of complying with such requirements or their impact on the resale price or useful life of our vessels. We are required by various governmental and quasi-governmental agencies to obtain certain permits, licenses, certificates and financial assurances with respect to our operations. Many environmental requirements are designed to reduce the risk of pollution, such as oil spills, and our compliance with these requirements can be costly. Additional conventions, laws and regulations may be adopted that could limit our ability to do business or increase the cost of doing business and which may materially and adversely affect our operations.

        Environmental requirements can also affect the resale value or useful lives of our vessels, could require a reduction in cargo capacity, ship modifications or operational changes or restrictions, could lead to decreased availability of insurance coverage for environmental matters or could result in the denial of access to certain jurisdictional waters or ports or detention in certain ports. Under local, national and foreign laws, as well as international treaties and conventions, we could incur material liabilities, including cleanup obligations and natural resource damages liability, in the event that there is a release of petroleum or other hazardous material from our vessels or otherwise in connection with our operations. Environmental laws often impose strict liability for remediation of spills and releases of oil and hazardous substances, which could subject us to liability without regard to whether we were negligent or at fault. The 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico may result in further regulation of the shipping industry, including modifications to liability schemes. We could also become subject to personal injury or property damage claims relating to the release of hazardous substances associated with our existing or historic operations. Violations of, or liabilities under, environmental requirements can result in substantial penalties, fines and other sanctions, including, in certain instances, seizure or detention of our vessels.

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        The operation of our vessels is also affected by the requirements set forth in the International Maritime Organization's, or IMO's, International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention, or the ISM Code. The ISM Code requires shipowners and bareboat charterers to develop and maintain an extensive "Safety Management System" that includes the adoption of a safety and environmental protection policy setting forth instructions and procedures for safe operation and describing procedures for dealing with emergencies. Failure to comply with the ISM Code may subject us to increased liability, may decrease available insurance coverage for the affected ships, and may result in denial of access to, or detention in, certain ports.

Increased inspection procedures, tighter import and export controls and new security regulations could cause disruption of our containership business.

        International container shipping is subject to security and customs inspection and related procedures in countries of origin, destination, and certain trans-shipment points. These inspection procedures can result in cargo seizure, delays in the loading, offloading, trans-shipment, or delivery of containers, and the levying of customs duties, fines or other penalties against exporters or importers and, in some cases, charterers and charter owners.

        Since the events of September 11, 2001, U.S. authorities have more than doubled container inspection rates to over 5% of all imported containers. Government investment in non-intrusive container scanning technology has grown and there is interest in electronic monitoring technology, including so-called "e-seals" and "smart" containers, that would enable remote, centralized monitoring of containers during shipment to identify tampering with or opening of the containers, along with potentially measuring other characteristics such as temperature, air pressure, motion, chemicals, biological agents and radiation. Also, as a response to the events of September 11, 2001, additional vessel security requirements have been imposed including the installation of security alert and automatic information systems on board vessels.

        It is further unclear what changes, if any, to the existing inspection and security procedures will ultimately be proposed or implemented, or how any such changes will affect the industry. It is possible that such changes could impose additional financial and legal obligations, including additional responsibility for inspecting and recording the contents of containers and complying with additional security procedures on board vessels, such as those imposed under the ISPS Code. Changes to the inspection and security procedures and container security could result in additional costs and obligations on carriers and may, in certain cases, render the shipment of certain types of goods by container uneconomical or impractical. Additional costs that may arise from current inspection or security procedures or future proposals that may not be fully recoverable from customers through higher rates or security surcharges.

Governments could requisition our vessels during a period of war or emergency, resulting in loss of earnings.

        A government of a ship's registry could requisition for title or seize our vessels. Requisition for title occurs when a government takes control of a ship and becomes the owner. Also, a government could requisition our containerships for hire. Requisition for hire occurs when a government takes control of a ship and effectively becomes the charterer at dictated charter rates. Generally, requisitions occur during a period of war or emergency. Government requisition of one or more of our vessels may negatively impact our revenues and results of operations.

Terrorist attacks and international hostilities could affect our results of operations and financial condition.

        Terrorist attacks such as the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 and more recent attacks in other parts of the world, and the continuing response of the United States and other countries to these attacks, as well as the threat of future terrorist attacks, continue to cause uncertainty

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in the world financial markets and may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Events in the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt and Libya, and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may lead to additional acts of terrorism, regional conflict and other armed conflicts around the world, which may contribute to further economic instability in the global financial markets. These uncertainties could also adversely affect our ability to obtain additional financing on terms acceptable to us, or at all.

        Terrorist attacks targeted at sea vessels, such as the October 2002 attack in Yemen on the VLCC Limburg, a ship not related to us, may in the future also negatively affect our operations and financial condition and directly impact our containerships or our customers. Future terrorist attacks could result in increased volatility of the financial markets in the United States and globally and could result in an economic recession affecting the United States or the entire world. Any of these occurrences could have a material adverse impact on our operating results, revenue and costs.

        Changing economic, political and governmental conditions in the countries where we are engaged in business or where our vessels are registered could affect us. In addition, future hostilities or other political instability in regions where our vessels trade could also affect our trade patterns and adversely affect our operations and performance.

Acts of piracy on ocean-going vessels have recently increased in frequency, which could adversely affect our business.

        Acts of piracy have historically affected ocean-going vessels trading in regions of the world such as the South China Sea and in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Since 2008, the frequency of piracy incidents has increased significantly, particularly in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. For example, in January 2010, the Maran Centaurus, a tanker vessel not affiliated with us, was captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean while carrying crude oil estimated to be worth $20 million, and was released in January 2010 upon a ransom payment of over $5 million. In addition, crew costs, including costs due to employing onboard security guards, could increase in such circumstances. We may not be adequately insured to cover losses from these incidents, which could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, any detention or hijacking as a result of an act of piracy against our vessels, or an increase in cost, or unavailability, of insurance for our vessels, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and ability to pay dividends.

Risks inherent in the operation of ocean-going vessels could affect our business and reputation, which could adversely affect our expenses, net income and stock price.

        The operation of ocean-going vessels carries inherent risks. These risks include the possibility of:

•

marine disaster;



•

environmental accidents;



•

grounding, fire, explosions and collisions;



•

cargo and property losses or damage;



•

business interruptions caused by mechanical failure, human error, war, terrorism, political action in various countries, or adverse weather conditions;



•

work stoppages or other labor problems with crew members serving on our vessels, substantially all of whom are unionized and covered by collective bargaining agreements; and



•

piracy.

        Such occurrences could result in death or injury to persons, loss of property or environmental damage, delays in the delivery of cargo, loss of revenues from or termination of charter contracts,

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governmental fines, penalties or restrictions on conducting business, higher insurance rates, and damage to our reputation and customer relationships generally. Any of these circumstances or events could increase our costs or lower our revenues, which could result in reduction in the market price of our shares of common stock. The involvement of our vessels in an environmental disaster may harm our reputation as a safe and reliable vessel owner and operator.

Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations due to the inherent operational risks of the shipping industry.

        The operation of any vessel includes risks such as mechanical failure, collision, fire, contact with floating objects, property loss, cargo loss or damage and business interruption due to political circumstances in foreign countries, hostilities and labor strikes. In addition, there is always an inherent possibility of a marine disaster, including oil spills and other environmental mishaps. There are also liabilities arising from owning and operating vessels in international trade. We procure insurance for our fleet against risks commonly insured against by vessel owners and operators. Our current insurance includes (i) hull and machinery insurance covering damage to our vessels' hull and machinery from, among other things, contact with free and floating objects, (ii) war risks insurance covering losses associated with the outbreak or escalation of hostilities and (iii) protection and indemnity insurance (which includes environmental damage and pollution insurance) covering third-party and crew liabilities such as expenses resulting from the injury or death of crew members, passengers and other third parties, the loss or damage to cargo, third-party claims arising from collisions with other vessels, damage to other third-party property, pollution arising from oil or other substances and salvage, towing and other related costs and loss of hire insurance for the CSCL Europe , the CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic ), the CSCL Pusan (ex HN 1559 ) and the CSCL Le Havre (ex HN 1561 ).

        We can give no assurance that we are adequately insured against all risks or that our insurers will pay a particular claim. Even if our insurance coverage is adequate to cover our losses, we may not be able to obtain a timely replacement vessel in the event of a loss. Under the terms of our credit facilities, we will be subject to restrictions on the use of any proceeds we may receive from claims under our insurance policies. Furthermore, in the future, we may not be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage at reasonable rates for our fleet. We may also be subject to calls, or premiums, in amounts based not only on our own claim records but also the claim records of all other members of the protection and indemnity associations through which we receive indemnity insurance coverage for tort liability. Our insurance policies also contain deductibles, limitations and exclusions which, although we believe are standard in the shipping industry, may nevertheless increase our costs.

        In addition, we do not carry loss of hire insurance (other than for the CSCL Europe , the CSCL America (ex MSC Baltic ), the CSCL Pusan (ex HN 1559 ) and the CSCL Le Havre (ex HN 1561 ) to satisfy our loan agreement requirements). Loss of hire insurance covers the loss of revenue during extended vessel off-hire periods, such as those that occur during an unscheduled drydocking due to damage to the vessel from accidents. Accordingly, any loss of a vessel or any extended period of vessel off-hire, due to an accident or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders.

Maritime claimants could arrest our vessels, which could interrupt our cash flows.

        Crew members, suppliers of goods and services to a vessel, shippers of cargo and other parties may be entitled to a maritime lien against that vessel for unsatisfied debts, claims or damages. In many jurisdictions, a maritime lien holder may enforce its lien by arresting a vessel through foreclosure proceedings. The arrest or attachment of one or more of our vessels could interrupt our cash flows and require us to pay large sums of money to have the arrest lifted.

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        In addition, in some jurisdictions, such as South Africa, under the "sister ship" theory of liability, a claimant may arrest both the vessel that is subject to the claimant's maritime lien and any "associated" vessel, which is any vessel owned or controlled by the same owner. Claimants could try to assert "sister ship" liability against one vessel in our fleet for claims relating to another of our ships.

The aging of our fleet may result in increased operating costs in the future, which could adversely affect our earnings.

        In general, the cost of maintaining a vessel in good operating condition increases with the age of the vessel. As our fleet ages, we may incur increased costs. Older vessels are typically less fuel efficient and more costly to maintain than more recently constructed vessels due to improvements in engine technology. Cargo insurance rates also increase with the age of a vessel, making older vessels less desirable to charterers. Governmental regulations and safety or other equipment standards related to the age of a vessel may also require expenditures for alterations or the addition of new equipment to our vessels, and may restrict the type of activities in which our vessels may engage. Although our current fleet of 52 containerships had an average age (weighted by TEU capacity) of approximately 8.25 years as of March 31, 2011, we cannot assure you that, as our vessels age, market conditions will justify such expenditures or will enable us to profitably operate our vessels during the remainder of their expected useful lives.

Compliance with safety and other requirements imposed by classification societies may be very costly and may adversely affect our business.

        The hull and machinery of every commercial vessel must be classed by a classification society authorized by its country of registry. The classification society certifies that a vessel is safe and seaworthy in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of the country of registry of the vessel and the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, and all vessels must be awarded ISM certification.

        A vessel must undergo annual surveys, intermediate surveys and special surveys. In lieu of a special survey, a vessel's machinery may be on a continuous survey cycle, under which the machinery would be surveyed periodically over a five-year period. Each of the vessels in our fleet is on a special survey cycle for hull inspection and a continuous survey cycle for machinery inspection.

        If any vessel does not maintain its class or fails any annual, intermediate or special survey, and/or loses its certification, the vessel will be unable to trade between ports and will be unemployable, and we could be in violation of certain covenants in our loan agreements. This would negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Our business depends upon certain employees who may not necessarily continue to work for us.

        Our future success depends to a significant extent upon our chief executive officer, Dr. John Coustas, and certain members of our senior management and that of our manager. Dr. Coustas has substantial experience in the container shipping industry and has worked with us and our manager for many years. He and others employed by us and our manager are crucial to the execution of our business strategies and to the growth and development of our business. In addition, under the terms of the Bank Agreement in respect of restructuring our existing credit facilities and the new financing arrangements for which we have reached agreements in principle, Dr. Coustas ceasing to serve as our Chief Executive Officer, absent a successor acceptable to our lenders, would constitute an event of default under these agreements. If these certain individuals were no longer to be affiliated with us or our manager, or if we were to otherwise cease to receive advisory services from them, we may be unable to recruit other employees with equivalent talent and experience, and our business and financial condition may suffer as a result.

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The provisions in our employment arrangements with our chief executive officer restricting his ability to compete with us, like restrictive covenants generally, may not be enforceable.

        In connection with his employment agreement with us, Dr. Coustas, our chief executive officer, has entered into a restrictive covenant agreement with us under which he is precluded during the term of his employment and for one year thereafter from owning and operating drybulk ships or containerships larger than 2,500 TEUs and from acquiring or investing in a business that owns or operates such vessels. Courts generally do not favor the enforcement of such restrictions, particularly when they involve individuals and could be construed as infringing on their ability to be employed or to earn a livelihood. Our ability to enforce these restrictions, should it ever become necessary, will depend upon the circumstances that exist at the time enforcement is sought. We cannot be assured that a court would enforce the restrictions as written by way of an injunction or that we could necessarily establish a case for damages as a result of a violation of the restrictive covenants.

We depend on our manager to operate our business.

        Pursuant to the management agreement and the individual ship management agreements, our manager and its affiliates may provide us with certain of our officers and will provide us with technical, administrative and certain commercial services (including vessel maintenance, crewing, purchasing, shipyard supervision, insurance, assistance with regulatory compliance and financial services). Our operational success will depend significantly upon our manager's satisfactory performance of these services. Our business would be harmed if our manager failed to perform these services satisfactorily. In addition, if the management agreement were to be terminated or if its terms were to be altered, our business could be adversely affected, as we may not be able to immediately replace such services, and even if replacement services were immediately available, the terms offered could be less favorable than the ones currently offered by our manager. Our management agreement with any new manager may not be as favorable.

        Our ability to compete for and enter into new time charters and to expand our relationships with our existing charterers depends largely on our relationship with our manager and its reputation and relationships in the shipping industry. If our manager suffers material damage to its reputation or relationships, it may harm our ability to:

•

renew existing charters upon their expiration;



•

obtain new charters;



•

successfully interact with shipyards during periods of shipyard construction constraints;



•

obtain financing on commercially acceptable terms or at all;



•

maintain satisfactory relationships with our charterers and suppliers; or



•

successfully execute our business strategies.

        If our ability to do any of the things described above is impaired, it could have a material adverse effect on our business and affect our profitability.

Our manager is a privately held company and there is little or no publicly available information about it.

        The ability of our manager to continue providing services for our benefit will depend in part on its own financial strength. Circumstances beyond our control could impair our manager's financial strength, and because it is a privately held company, information about its financial strength is not available. As a result, our stockholders might have little advance warning of problems affecting our manager, even though these problems could have a material adverse effect on us. As part of our

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reporting obligations as a public company, we will disclose information regarding our manager that has a material impact on us to the extent that we become aware of such information.

We are a Marshall Islands corporation, and the Marshall Islands does not have a well developed body of corporate law.

        Our corporate affairs are governed by our articles of incorporation and bylaws and by the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act, or BCA. The provisions of the BCA are similar to provisions of the corporation laws of a number of states in the United States. However, there have been few judicial cases in the Republic of The Marshall Islands interpreting the BCA. The rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under the law of the Republic of The Marshall Islands are not as clearly established as the rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under statutes or judicial precedent in existence in certain U.S. jurisdictions. Stockholder rights may differ as well. While the BCA does specifically incorporate the non-statutory law, or judicial case law, of the State of Delaware and other states with substantially similar legislative provisions, our public stockholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions by the management, directors or controlling stockholders than would stockholders of a corporation incorporated in a U.S. jurisdiction.

It may be difficult to enforce service of process and enforcement of judgments against us and our officers and directors.

        We are a Marshall Islands corporation, and our registered office is located outside of the United States in the Marshall Islands. A majority of our directors and officers reside outside of the United States, and a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of our officers and directors are located outside of the United States. As a result, you may have difficulty serving legal process within the United States upon us or any of these persons. You may also have difficulty enforcing, both in and outside of the United States, judgments you may obtain in the U.S. courts against us or these persons in any action, including actions based upon the civil liability provisions of U.S. federal or state securities laws.

        There is also substantial doubt that the courts of the Marshall Islands would enter judgments in original actions brought in those courts predicated on U.S. federal or state securities laws. Even if you were successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Marshall Islands may prevent or restrict you from enforcing a judgment against our assets or our directors and officers.

We maintain cash with a limited number of financial institutions including financial institutions that may be located in Greece, which will subject us to credit risk.

        We maintain all of our cash with a limited number of financial institutions, including institutions that are located in Greece. These financial institutions located in Greece may be subsidiaries of international banks or Greek financial institutions. Economic conditions in Greece have been, and continue to be, severely disrupted and volatile, and as a result of sovereign weakness, Moody's Investor Services Inc. has recently downgraded the bank financial strength ratings, as well as the deposit and debt ratings, of several Greek banks to reflect their weakening stand-alone financial strength and the anticipated additional pressures stemming from the country's challenged economic prospects.

        We do not expect that any of our balances held with Greek financial institutions will be covered by insurance in the event of default by these financial institutions. The occurrence of such a default could therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. If we are unable to fund our capital expenditures, we may not be able to continue to operate some of our vessels, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and could diminish our ability to pay dividends.

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Risks Relating to Our Common Stock

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated widely and the market price of our common stock may fluctuate in the future.

        The market price of our common stock has fluctuated widely since our initial public offering in October 2006, reaching a high of $40.26 per share in 2007 and a low of $2.72 per share in the third quarter of 2009, and may continue to do so as a result of many factors, including our actual results of operations and perceived prospects, the prospects of our competition and of the shipping industry in general and in particular the containership sector, differences between our actual financial and operating results and those expected by investors and analysts, changes in analysts' recommendations or projections, changes in general valuations for companies in the shipping industry, particularly the containership sector, changes in general economic or market conditions and broad market fluctuations.

        If the market price of our common stock again drops below $5.00 per share, under stock exchange rules, our stockholders will not be able to use such shares as collateral for borrowing in margin accounts. This inability to use shares of our common stock as collateral may depress demand as certain institutional investors are restricted from investing in shares priced below $5.00 and lead to sales of such shares creating downward pressure on and increased volatility in the market price of our common stock.

        In addition, under the rules of The New York Stock Exchange, listed companies are required to maintain a share price of at least $1.00 per share and if the share price declines below $1.00 for a period of 30 consecutive business days, then the listed company would have a cure period of 180 days to regain compliance with the $1.00 per share minimum. In the event that our share price declines below $1.00, we may be required to take action, such as a reverse stock split, in order to comply with the New York Stock Exchange rules that may be in effect at the time in order to avoid delisting of our common stock and the associated decrease in liquidity in the market for our common stock.

Future issuances of equity, including upon exercise of outstanding warrants, or equity- linked securities, or future sales of our common stock by existing stockholders, may result in significant dilution and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

        We have or will issue 15 million warrants, for no additional consideration, to our existing lenders participating in the Bank Agreement covering our then existing credit facilities and certain new credit facilities, entitling such lenders to purchase, solely on a cash-less exercise basis, additional shares of our common stock, at an initial exercise price of $7.00 per share. We have also agreed to register the warrants and underlying common stock for resale under the Securities Act.

        We may have to attempt to sell additional shares in the future to satisfy our capital and operating needs. In addition, lenders may be unwilling to provide future financing or may provide future financing only on unfavorable terms. In light of the restrictions on our use of cash from operations, debt financings and asset sales contained in our Bank Agreement governing our credit facilities, to finance further growth beyond our contracted newbuildings we would likely have to issue additional shares of common stock or other equity securities. If we sell shares in the future, the prices at which we sell these future shares will vary, and these variations may be significant. If made at currently prevailing prices, these sales would be significantly dilutive of existing stockholders. We granted the investors in our $200 million August 2010 equity transaction certain rights, in connection with any subsequent underwritten public offering that is effected at any time prior to the fifth anniversary of the registration rights agreements, to purchase from us, at the same price per share paid by investors who purchase common stock in any such offering, up to a specified portion of such common stock being issued.

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        Subsequent resales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market, moreover, could adversely affect the market price of our shares. We filed with the SEC shelf registration statements on Form F-3 registering under the Securities Act an aggregate of 63,645,305 shares of our common stock for resale on behalf of selling stockholders, including our executive officers, in addition to securities issuable by us, and granted registration rights in respect of additional shares of our common stock held by our largest stockholder and certain other investors in our August 2010 equity offering. In the aggregate these 63,645,305 registered shares represent approximately 58.6% of our outstanding shares of common stock as of March 31, 2011. These shares may be sold in registered transactions and may also be resold subject to the holding period, volume, manner of sale and notice requirements of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. Sales or the possibility of sales of substantial amounts of our common stock by these shareholders in the public markets could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

        We cannot predict the effect that future sales of our common stock or other equity related securities would have on the market price of our common stock.

The Coustas Family Trust, our principal existing stockholder, controls the outcome of matters on which our stockholders are entitled to vote and its interests may be different from yours.

        The Coustas Family Trust, under which our chief executive officer is both a beneficiary, together with other members of the Coustas Family, and the protector (which is analogous to a trustee), through Danaos Investments Limited, a corporation wholly-owned by Dr. Coustas, owned, directly or indirectly, approximately 62.3% of our outstanding common stock as of March 31, 2011. This stockholder is able to control the outcome of matters on which our stockholders are entitled to vote, including the election of our entire board of directors and other significant corporate actions. The interests of this stockholder may be different from yours. Under the terms of the Bank Agreement governing our credit facilities, Dr. Coustas, together with the Coustas Family Trust and his family, ceasing to own over one-third of our outstanding common stock will constitute an event of default in certain circumstances.

We are a "controlled company" under the New York Stock Exchange rules, and as such we are entitled to exemptions from certain New York Stock Exchange corporate governance standards, and you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

        We are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance standards. Under the New York Stock Exchange rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by another company or group is a "controlled company" and may elect not to comply with certain New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements, including (1) the requirement that a majority of the board of directors consist of independent directors, (2) the requirement that the nominating committee be composed entirely of independent directors and have a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities, (3) the requirement that the compensation committee be composed entirely of independent directors and have a written charter addressing the committee's purpose and responsibilities and (4) the requirement of an annual performance evaluation of the nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees. We may utilize these exemptions, and currently a non-independent director serves on our compensation committee and on our nominating and corporate governance committees. As a result, non-independent directors, including members of our management who also serve on our board of directors, may serve on the compensation or the nominating and corporate governance committees of our board of directors which, among other things, fix the compensation of our management, make stock and option awards and resolve governance issues regarding us. Accordingly, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

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Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents could make it difficult for our stockholders to replace or remove our current board of directors or could have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a merger or acquisition, which could adversely affect the market price of the shares of our common stock.

        Several provisions of our articles of incorporation and bylaws could make it difficult for our stockholders to change the composition of our board of directors in any one year, preventing them from changing the composition of our management. In addition, the same provisions may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition that stockholders may consider favorable.

        These provisions:

•

authorize our board of directors to issue "blank check" preferred stock without stockholder approval;



•

provide for a classified board of directors with staggered, three-year terms;



•

prohibit cumulative voting in the election of directors;



•

authorize the removal of directors only for cause and only upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 ² / 3 % of the outstanding stock entitled to vote for those directors;



•

prohibit stockholder action by written consent unless the written consent is signed by all stockholders entitled to vote on the action;



•

establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted on by stockholders at stockholder meetings; and



•

restrict business combinations with interested stockholders.

        We have adopted a stockholder rights plan pursuant to which our board of directors may cause the substantial dilution of the holdings of any person that attempts to acquire us without the approval of our board of directors. In addition, our respective lenders under our existing credit facilities covered by the Bank Agreement for the restructuring thereof and the new credit facilities will be entitled to require us to repay in full amounts outstanding under such credit facilities, if Dr. Coustas ceases to be our Chief Executive Officer or, together with members of his family and trusts for the benefit thereof, ceases to collectively own over one-third of the voting interest in our outstanding capital stock or any other person or group controls more than 20.0% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock.

        These anti-takeover provisions, including the provisions of our stockholder rights plan, could substantially impede the ability of public stockholders to benefit from a change in control and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and your ability to realize any potential change of control premium.

Tax Risks

We may have to pay tax on U.S.-source income, which would reduce our earnings.

        Under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, 50% of the gross shipping income of a ship owning or chartering corporation, such as ourselves, that is attributable to transportation that begins or ends, but that does not both begin and end, in the United States is characterized as U.S.-source shipping income and as such is subject to a 4% U.S. federal income tax without allowance for deduction, unless that corporation qualifies for exemption from tax under Section 883 of the Code and the Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder.

        Other than with respect to four of our vessel-owning subsidiaries, as to which we are uncertain whether they qualify for this statutory tax exemption, we believe that we and our subsidiaries currently qualify for this statutory tax exemption and we currently intend to take that position for U.S. federal

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income tax reporting purposes. However, there are factual circumstances beyond our control that could cause us or our subsidiaries to fail to qualify for the benefit of this tax exemption and thus to be subject to U.S. federal income tax on U.S.-source shipping income. There can be no assurance that we or any of our subsidiaries will qualify for this tax exemption for any year. For example, even assuming, as we expect will be the case, that our shares are regularly and primarily traded on an established securities market in the United States, if shareholders each of whom owns, actually or under applicable attribution rules, 5% or more of our shares own, in the aggregate, 50% or more of our shares, then we and our subsidiaries will generally not be eligible for the Section 883 exemption unless we can establish, in accordance with specified ownership certification procedures, either (i) that a sufficient number of the shares in the closely-held block are owned, directly or under the applicable attribution rules, by "qualified shareholders" (generally, individuals resident in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions) so that the shares in the closely-held block that are not so owned could not constitute 50% or more of our shares for more than half of the days in the relevant tax year or (ii) that qualified shareholders owned more than 50% of our shares for at least half of the days in the relevant taxable year. There can be no assurance that we will be able to establish such ownership by qualified shareholders for any tax year. In connection with the four vessel-owning subsidiaries referred to above, we note that qualification under Section 883 will depend in part upon the ownership, directly or under the applicable attribution rules, of preferred shares issued by such subsidiaries as to which we are not the direct or indirect owner of record.

        If we or our subsidiaries are not entitled to the exemption under Section 883 for any taxable year, we or our subsidiaries would be subject for those years to a 4% U.S. federal income tax on our gross U.S. source shipping income. The imposition of this taxation could have a negative effect on our business and would result in decreased earnings available for distribution to our stockholders. A number of our charters contain provisions that obligate the charterers to reimburse us for the 4% gross basis tax on our U.S. source shipping income.

If we were treated as a "passive foreign investment company," certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could result to U.S. stockholders.

        A foreign corporation will be treated as a "passive foreign investment company," or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes if at least 75% of its gross income for any taxable year consists of certain types of "passive income," or at least 50% of the average value of the corporation's assets produce or are held for the production of those types of "passive income." For purposes of these tests, "passive income" includes dividends, interest, and gains from the sale or exchange of investment property and rents and royalties other than rents and royalties that are received from unrelated parties in connection with the active conduct of a trade or business. For purposes of these tests, income derived from the performance of services does not constitute "passive income." In general, U.S. stockholders of a PFIC are subject to a disadvantageous U.S. federal income tax regime with respect to the distributions they receive from the PFIC, and the gain, if any, they derive from the sale or other disposition of their shares in the PFIC. If we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year, we will provide information to U.S. stockholders to enable them to make certain elections to alleviate certain of the adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences that would arise as a result of holding an interest in a PFIC.

        While there are legal uncertainties involved in this determination, including as a result of a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Tidewater Inc. and Subsidiaries v. United States , 565 F.3d 299 (5th Cir. 2009) which held that income derived from certain time chartering activities should be treated as rental income rather than services income for purposes of the foreign sales corporation rules under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, we believe we should not be treated as a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2010. However, if the principles of the Tidewater decision were applicable to our time charters, we would likely be treated as a PFIC.

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Moreover, there is no assurance that the nature of our assets, income and operations will not change or that we can avoid being treated as a PFIC for subsequent years.

The enactment of proposed legislation could affect whether dividends paid by us constitute qualified dividend income eligible for the preferential rate.

        Legislation has been introduced that would deny the preferential rate of federal income tax currently imposed on qualified dividend income with respect to dividends received from a non-U.S. corporation, unless the non-U.S. corporation either is eligible for benefits of a comprehensive income tax treaty with the United States or is created or organized under the laws of a foreign country which has a comprehensive income tax system. Because the Marshall Islands has not entered into a comprehensive income tax treaty with the United States and imposes only limited taxes on corporations organized under its laws, it is unlikely that we could satisfy either of these requirements. It is not possible at this time to predict with certainty whether or in what form the proposed legislation will be enacted.

If the regulations regarding the exemption from Liberian taxation for non-resident corporations issued by the Liberian Ministry of Finance were found to be invalid, the net income and cash flows of our Liberian subsidiaries and therefore our net income and cash flows, would be materially reduced.

        A number of our subsidiaries are incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Liberia. The Republic of Liberia enacted a new income tax act effective as of January 1, 2001 (the "New Act") which does not distinguish between the taxation of "non-resident" Liberian corporations, such as our Liberian subsidiaries, which conduct no business in Liberia and were wholly exempt from taxation under the income tax law previously in effect since 1977, and "resident" Liberian corporations which conduct business in Liberia and are, and were under the prior law, subject to taxation.

        In 2004, the Liberian Ministry of Finance issued regulations exempting non-resident corporations engaged in international shipping, such as our Liberian subsidiaries, from Liberian taxation under the New Act retroactive to January 1, 2001. It is unclear whether these regulations, which ostensibly conflict with the express terms of the New Act adopted by the Liberian legislature, are valid. However, the Liberian Ministry of Justice issued an opinion that the new regulations are a valid exercise of the regulatory authority of the Ministry of Finance. The Liberian Ministry of Finance has not at any time since January 1, 2001 sought to collect taxes from any of our Liberian subsidiaries.

        If our Liberian subsidiaries were subject to Liberian income tax under the New Act, they would be subject to tax at a rate of 35% on their worldwide income. As a result, their, and subsequently our, net income and cash flows would be materially reduced. In addition, as the ultimate stockholder of the Liberian subsidiaries, we would be subject to Liberian withholding tax on dividends paid by our Liberian subsidiaries at rates ranging from 15% to 20%, which would limit our access to funds generated by the operations of our subsidiaries and further reduce our income and cash flows.