Seoul: Two broker reports out yesterday suggest fast emerging Abu Dhabi shipowner Eships has come to the rescue of bankrupt Korean yard SLS Shipbuilding. EShips has splashed $100m for a trio of medium range product tankers at the Tongyeoung based yard, which filed for bankruptcy in December after losing various court cases with the likes of Stolt-Nielsen, Glencore and D'Amico which saw eight product tanker cancellations. Eships is thought to have bought up three of these cancelled ships at a large - 30% - discount from the original $47.5m paid originally by the Glencore and D'Amico joint venture, Glenda International Shipping in 2007. The first two ships will deliver next month and April. The new price is in line with market estimates for newbuild product tankers at the moment.
Privately-owned Eships is owned 50% each by Abu Dhabi Investment Company and Mubadala Development Company. It used to be known as Emirates Ship Investment having started out as an entity called Combined Cargo UAE.
SLS focuses on MR product tankers ranging in size from 40,000 dwt to 51,000 dwt. The yard has two semi-sliding berths, one floating dock as well as a 2008 completed flat berth to build onland. [16/02/10]
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