An Indian court auction for an arrested GP Global bunker tanker has failed to find an acceptable bid, while another of the marine fuel player's ships has been arrested.
Six bids in a court auction for the 6,200-dwt bunker tanker GP B3 (built 2010) have been rejected and a new auction has been ordered by the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad.
The ship was arrested at Pipavav in September.
Meanwhile, lawyers for mortgage holder Bank of Fujairah have won an arrest order for the 6,900-dwt bunkering tanker GP B4 (built 2001) at the Indian port of Deendayal.
Both ships are from the fleet of Dubai-based GP Global, formerly known as Gulf Petrochem Group. The arrests are part of a series of court actions that have followed since the announcement last summer of a financial restructuring.
The newly arrested GP B4 had been laid up at Colombo in Sri Lanka since late last year following the financial difficulties of the tanker owner, bunker supplier and terminal operator.
AIS-based vessel tracking services show GP B4 still at anchor in Colombo. Sources believe the ship was shifted from Sri Lanka with the intention of a scrapping sale in India, but sailed into the hands of bankers instead. The High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad issued the arrest order on 4 January after the ship's arrival.
GP Global acquired the veteran bunkering tanker only a year ago under the name Ocean Ruby from a fellow United Arab Emirates owner for an unknown price. Sources believe the GP B4 can only expect scrap level offers when it comes to auction.
Attractive asset
But the GP B3, which was arrested earlier, is 10 years younger and could attract a trading buyer, although it failed to do so in its latest auction attempt.
Some of the six bids came from scrapping players, including cash buyer NKD Maritime, while others came from operators of small tankers, such as Dubai-based Global Tanker FZE, which put in the highest bid, INR 182.5m ($2.5m).
Comparable sales indicate that the ship might bring in more like $4m.
The court refunded all deposits and announced that a new auction date will be set on 22 January.
A representative for one of the losing bidders told TradeWinds the ship remains attractive.
Shashank Agrawal, partner of Gujarat's SSA Legal, said his client Oleo Energy DMCC is actively interested in the vessel and will rebid.
Officials at GP Global were not immediately available to comment.
