Epic Gas has begun 2017 as it did the previous year – in the red posting a first quarter loss of $3.4m, figures released Thursday show.

The loss for the Charles Maltby-led shipowner came despite a 5% up-tick in revenue for the three months to $33.9m.

“Our revenue of $8,423 per vessel calendar day represented a decline in realised earnings of 3% year over year, but was up 3% on the previous quarter, and nearly 15% improved on the third quarter of 2016,” Epic Gas said.