SAM Shipping has circulated three bulkers for sale, Athens-based brokers have reported.
It is understood that the 57,200-dwt SAM Wolf and SAM Lion (both built 2012) and 33,400-dwt SAM Panther (built 2010) are the last ships undisputedly under the company’s control after a series of legal rows with banks and trade creditors.
TradeWinds is told the vessels are being sold under the owner’s instructions. They have been built to IMO Tier-II standards, which should make them attractive to buyers, especially Chinese.
However, a sale will not be easy under the current circumstances.
“Chinese buyers expect to get ships for nothing these days,” one broker said.
All three vessels are currently underway in east Asian waters.
Representatives of SAM Shipping did not respond to a request for comment.
SAM Shipping has been having troubled relations with banks and trade creditors that have led to several ship arrests.
Last month, the company confirmed Credit Suisse was about to repossess the 57,200-dwt SAM Jaguar (built 2013) — a sistership to the two STX Offshore & Shipbuilding-constructed supramaxes that it is now circulating for sale.
TradeWinds has reported that Credit Suisse is also targeting another two company vessels — the 57,200-dwt SAM Hawk (built 2013) and 32,600-dwt SAM Eagle (built 2010).
A Guajarat court order dated 27 March shows the SAM Hawk to be under arrest already in Mundra, India, on behalf of provisions and stores management company Garrets International.
SAM Shipping's dispute with Credit Suisse is the indirect result of the long-running arrest of the SAM Eagle by Malta-based trade financier FIMBank. SAM Shipping and FIMBank are locked in a bitter dispute over alleged bill-of-lading fraud, which is unrelated to vessel financing.
FIMBank arrested the SAM Jaguar in Corpus Christi, Texas, last September, where the ship remains amid energetic litigation.
Credit Suisse has not involved itself in the US Southern District of Texas federal court arrest lawsuit of the SAM Eagle but, as its mortgage holder, sources expected it to end up with the ship.
"Unfortunately due to the long arrest of the SAM Eagle by FIMBank and the inability to find common ground with the financing bank, [the] SAM Jaguar will be taken back by the financing bank," SAM chief executive Dennis Saevski said in a statement to TradeWinds in late March.
Bob Rust contributed to this article.
