Share buy-backs, dividend payments, debt repayment, more ships, initial public offerings, public-to-private moves, diversification into different tonnage areas.

Some or all of these strategies are being used by container and dry bulk operators who find themselves with more cash than they expected.

Danaos Corp of Greece underlined the cash bonanza this week when it reported first-half profits of $670m — exactly 10 times higher than the previous six months of 2020 — although the results were helped by some one-off gains.