Singapore's Grindrod Shipping has sold its fourth ship this year as it revealed a lower six-month loss.
The tanker and bulker owner said it had agreed a deal to dispose of the 32,300-dwt handysize dry cargo vessel IVS Nightjar (built 2004), its oldest vessel, to an unnamed third party for $5.1m.
Delivery is scheduled in the third quarter. VesselsValue quotes a value of $5m for the unit.
Grindrod had already sold three tankers in 2020 — two MRs and a smaller vessel — and redelivered three chartered-in tankers.
Chief executive Martyn Wade said: "The product tanker market temporarily enjoyed historically strong earnings as the result of changes in refined product flows and demand for floating storage worldwide, thereby positively affecting our profitability.
"We took advantage of the strong market to divest three of our product tankers, reinforcing our liquidity."
The shipowner's net loss was $12.3m in the first six months, against a loss of $18.9m in the same period last year.
Revenue was stable at $167m, with gross profit up at $8.9m from $5.9m.
As of 19 August, the company has contracted 1,210 handysize operating days at $6,280 per day, as well as 1,740 days for its supramaxes and ultramaxes at $10,240 per day.
'Extraordinary challenges'
On the tanker side, it has 150 days fixed at $12,220 per day.
Wade said the result improved despite the "extraordinary challenges due to the global pandemic".
"During this period, on the dry bulk side, the historically poor weakness in freight rates was partially offset by strong chartering outperformance underpinned by our cargo contracts and active freight hedging during the period," he added.
The handysize and supramax/ultramax vessels outperformed their respective Baltic Exchange indices by $2,070 per day (56%) and $3,440 per day (60%) respectively, Wade said.
"Looking ahead, despite the improvement in certain regions, the pandemic continues to pose significant operational challenges and uncertainty," he added.
"Chinese economic activity appears to have rebounded earlier than other countries, but still not enough to make up for the overall declines in demand. Industry experts expect demand to improve in 2021 while the dry bulk orderbook continues to shrink to multi-year lows."
Turning to product tankers, the release of tonnage held for storage back into trading has adversely affected rates, Wade said.
Demand is expected to recover in 2021, coupled with minimal fleet growth, however.
Grindrod retains 31 bulkers under the Island View Shipping division, plus three MRs and a smaller tanker operated by its Unicorn Shipping unit.
