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Diana duo cancels bulker newbuilding, sells panamax boxship

Diana Shipping Inc. has terminated a shipbuilding contract with China’s Yangzhou Dayang Shipbuilding, while its 25.7% owned Diana Containerships Inc. has sold a panamax boxship.

Lee Hong Liang, Asia Correspondent

November 4, 2016

1 Min Read
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Diana Shipping has served a notice of cancellation of a kamsarmax bulker shipbuilding contract with Yangzhou Dayang Shipbuilding of Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group.

The shipbuilding deal, entered into in 2014, came with an original delivery date of 31 May 2016. Due to a delay in delivery of 150 days, Diana Shipping has exercised its right under the contract to cancel the deal and to claim a refund of the pre-delivery installment payments amounting to around $8.65m with interest at a rate of 5% per annum.

The refund is covered by a refund guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of China dated 26 June 2014.

Chinese yard Dayang is struggling to stay afloat in the face of adverse operating environment. The yard is undergoing a restructuring and has slashed its workforce.

On the other hand, Diana Containerships entered into a memorandum of agreement to sell a 10-year-old, 2006-built panamax boxship YM Los Angeles to an unaffiliated third party for $6.69m.

The panamax vessel will be delivered to the buyer by the middle of this month.

Panamax boxships of 3,000-5,099 teu in capacity are increasingly unwanted and unloved by owners following the expansion of the Panama Canal. This week saw Box Ships sold a 10-year-old panamax vessel for scrap.

About the Author

Lee Hong Liang

Asia Correspondent

Singapore-based Lee Hong Liang provides a significant boost to daily coverage of the Asian shipping markets, as well as bringing with him an in-depth specialist knowledge of the bunkering markets.

Throughout Hong Liang’s 14-year career as a maritime journalist, he has reported ‘live’ news from conferences, conducted one-on-one interviews with top officials, and had the ability to write hard news and featured stories.

 

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