Norwegian bulker owner Bergen Yangzhou Supramax Carriers is selling off its two ships after being declared bankrupt.
DVB Bank pushed the Berged-based shipowner into bankruptcy, confirmed by a court earlier this year, after the shipowner failed to pay up on its loans due in December.
Bergen Yangzhou trustee Gunnar A Haahjem said its 57,000-dwt Grand Breaker and Grand Pioneer (both built 2011) have now been sold and likely will be delivered before the end of the year.
The Grand Pioneer was reportedly sold this month sold to Taiwan’s Courage Investment for $10.88m. Grand Breaker was reported sold last month to a Chinese buyer for $11.5m, but that deal reportedly failed to materialise.
Walter J Hinneberg in Germany and Fearnleys are exclusive brokers on the sale.
Bergen Yangzhou Supramax Carriers is a Norwegian AS controlled by SLJ Invest, which in turn is owned by Jannicke Stadaas, Henrik Steimler, Tor Olav Gabrielsen and Jan Ljone. DVB Bank is its largest creditor with $26m in debt.
When the company took delivery of its two ships from the shipyard in 2011, the supramaxes entered five-year time charters.
For the first few years, the owner earned small profits from the vessels before it had heavy losses in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, the value of the ships was written down by a total of $25m.
When the time charter contracts expired in 2016, the ships entered a poor spot market and Bergen Yangzhou entered discussions with its banks to seek renewed terms on its loan agreements.
At the end of 2016, there was $25.1m outstanding on the DVB-financed loan, out of a total $36m given in 2011.
