Piraeus Bank is unlikely to recover anything close to the $81.4m it claims it is owed by shipowning entities linked to the Eleftherios Mylonopoulos-led Athenian Shipmanagement as the first of its two remaining bulkers goes under the hammer.
Officials at the Sheriff of Singapore’s office will sell the Liberian-flagged 76,000-dwt bulker Tina (built 2000), with bids for the vessel due in at the High Court of Singapore at 3pm on 7 December.
A recent court-ordered survey report of the vessel indicates that it is in sound and serviceable condition, although it is due for a dry-docking survey. The vessel has an estimated market value of $7.63 as a trading vessel according to figures quoted by VesselsValue.
Shipping databases indicate that the vessel is owned by single-ship entity Oceanfront Maritime and operated out of Piraeus by Athenian Ship Management.
The Tina was arrested in Singapore in early September by Piraeus Bank, which claimed that it is owed a total of $81.1m. Its crew has also filed a claim for unpaid wages with the High Court of Singapore.
Part of that money was used to finance the Tina, which was acquired as Astrale from Top Ships for $23m 2011, as well as a supramax bulker, the 56,000-dwt Evangelia M (built 2010), which was purchased from Falcon Maritime in 2014 for $21.8m.
The vessels are the last two vessels controlled by Athenian, which has yet to respond to a request for comment.
Neither has traded for some time. The Evangelia M has been sitting off the Indian port of Kakinada since June. Its Filipino crew was finally repatriated last week after calling in the help of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (PDFA).
According to Filipino news reports, the PDFA leaned on the crew’s Manila-based manning agency Evic Human Resource Management to pay back wages and procure tickets for their flights home.
There are unconfirmed suggestions that the Evangelia M is also under arrest. TradeWinds has sought official confirmation from authorities in India.
VesselsValue places a $11.26m value on the Evangelia M, thus putting a total value of $18.89m on the two ships.
Even if the two ships were able to obtain their full market values at auction, Piraeus Bank would still face a $62.51m shortfall in the amount of money it claims it is owed.
