Jinhui Shipping & Transportation is set to become a pure supramax owner after agreeing to offload two 12-year-old post-panamax bulkers.
The Oslo and Hong Kong-listed shipowner is set to receive $17.25m for each of the 93,200-dwt Jin Lang and Jin Mei (both built 2010) or $34.5m in total.
The two vessels are due to be delivered to their new owners between 7 November 2022 and 20 December 2022, Jinhui said.
Both vessels are currently Hong Kong-flagged and were both built at China’s Jiangsu New Yangzi. Jinhui has owned both vessels since their delivery.
Jinhui said it intends to use approximately 30% of the total net sale proceeds received for the repayment of the vessel mortgage loans.
The remaining portion of the total net sale proceeds will be kept as general working capital of the group.
Jinhui said the disposal of the vessels will enable it to enhance its working capital position and further strengthen its liquidity.
“Despite the recent development in the shipping market, we continue to seek to fine-tune the quality of our fleet, particularly in terms of seeking to lower the overall age profile of our fleet,” Jinhui said.
“We try to strike as good as possible, the balance of additional maintenance costs that is associated with the ageing of a vessel, the expected revenue-generating ability and cargo flexibility when compared to younger vessels, the potential asset value appreciation of an asset, as well as the importance of ensuring we are financially nimble by monetising suitable assets.
“We believe in being prepared at all times for future possible opportunities of redeployment of capital into other more suitable assets that may arise going forward while keeping leverage at comfortable levels,” the shipowner added.
In early September, Jinhui agreed to buy the 63,518-dwt Western Santos and the 63,469-dwt Hanton Trader I (both built 2014) for $25.4m each from Nisshin Shipping.
The latest disposals leave Jinhui with a fleet of 24 modern grabs fitted supramaxes with a total carrying capacity of 1.36m tons.
