A Remi Maritime-managed supramax arrested by the National Bank of Greece over outstanding debt is scheduled to go under the hammer in the country next month.
It is the latest in a string of moves by Greece's ailing lenders to clean up their portfolios.
The 57,000-dwt Blue Cat (built 2009) will be sold in an electronic auction on 5 June, according to a document posted last week on an official Greek auction website.
Auctioneers have set a minimum reserve price of $9m for the Chinese-built vessel. VesselsValue estimates that a ship of the Blue Cat's characteristics is worth $9.1m, while Maritime Strategies International values it at between $8.5m and $10.1m.
The auction documents describe the ship’s general condition as “average, due to lack of maintenance”.
Athens-based National Bank of Greece arrested the Blue Cat on 24 April at the port of Thessaloniki. The vessel's sale is in relation to an enforcement of litigation in the UK, the Greek auction paper shows.
Compatriot banks have recently stepped up foreclosures of assets and loan package sales — and not just in shipping — to comply with the terms of their European Union-funded bailout.
Electronic auctions are one method to market distressed assets. The Blue Cat is one of the largest vessels to go under the e-hammer in Greece.
The $9m the bank seeks to recoup falls short of the $50m it is owed by Blue Harbour Maritime, a Liberia-based company listed as the Blue Cat’s registered owner. TradeWinds is told that Blue Harbour Maritime represents several investors.
The Blue Cat is one of two bulkers in the fleet of Remi Maritime Corp, a Piraeus-based shipmanager where Leonidas S Polemis used to be chief executive.
Polemis, however, said that is no longer the case and that he is now chief executive of Empire Chemical Tanker Holdings.
Clients of Remi Maritime are also selling the 57,100-dwt Blue Marlin I (built 2008) — the second vessel managed by the company.
Several brokers in Europe and the US reported that the ship fetched about $7.8m when it was committed to unidentified buyers last month. However, the deal has yet to be completed.
The Blue Cat’s auction papers do not mention the Blue Marlin I.
The two sales, however, are likely connected.
According to Clarksons, both ships were ordered at the same time back in December 2006 at China’s Zhejiang Zhenghe Shipbuilding.
VesselsValue suggests each was worth nearly $30m at the time.
This story has been amended since publication to reflect that Leonidas Polemis has denied leading Remi Maritime.
