Wisdom Marine Lines has won $22.6m in compensation for the early redelivery of a ship on long-term time charter.
The payment will likely help Wisdom beat its 2018 full-year results, according to chairman Lan Junsheng.
The company intends to increase the pace of its ship sales by offloading five to 10 more vessels this year as part of its fleet renewal campaign.
Last year, Taiwan Stock Exchange-listed Wisdom reported a post-tax profit of TWD 1.81bn ($57.3m) on consolidated revenue of TWD 13.1bn.
Net profit for this April alone was TWD 814m, boosted by the early redelivery payout.
Wisdom chief operating officer Mike Chao Tzu-Lung told TradeWinds that there is no dispute involved and declined to identify the vessel or owner, but said it is a kamsarmax on long-term charter.
Chao said. "They probably calculated their future earnings on the charter at this rate and decided they should not keep the ship."
Ship chartered out
Chao added that the cancelled charter was for more than 10 years, and the redelivery payment was based on the difference between the charter rate and the current period market. Since the April redelivery, Wisdom has chartered the ship out for a term of one year.
As a company with roots at the small end of the tonnage scale, Wisdom typically acts as a tonnage supplier of its larger vessels.
Chao qualified Lan's projection of five to 10 ship sales as "a number that can change depending on circumstances" but confirmed that Wisdom is now in talks for sales of vessels in the handysize through supramax size range.
"We are always talking," he said. "We need to keep the fleet young."
Wisdom has a substantial orderbook but Chao downplayed its eagerness for further orders. However, more orders could follow if prices become too attractive to resist.
Wisdom, Taiwan's largest and most active bulker owner, has been less conspicuous as a seller than as an owner of ships during the past year. Since January 2018, it has ordered 15 bulkers in Japanese and Chinese yards, including four ultramaxes, five panamaxes and, most recently, a pair of handysize vessels from Imabari Shipbuilding. In the same period, Wisdom has sold only two handysize and an elderly ro-ro vessel.
The company has more than 6.3 million dwt in tonnage and 130 vessels, nearly all bulkers from small handysize to capesizes, with a handful of containerships, singledeckers, ro-ros and a small LPG carrier.
