Pacific International Lines (PIL) has sold two more ships to Bangladesh’s Karnaphuli Group as the Singaporean liner operator continues to boost its liquidity.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]The 1999-built 1,454TEU Kota Arif and Kota Anggerik were reportedly sold in January but left PIL’s fleet this month. The ships have been renamed HR Hera and HR Rhea, respectively; Karnaphuli is the parent of Bangladeshi feeder operator HR Lines.
The sale prices were not disclosed but each ship had a market value of around US$3.5 million in January.
Last June, the 1997-built 1,186TEU Kota Wajar and Kota Waris were sold to Karnaphuli, which renamed the ships Sahare and Sarera, respectively. The sale means that all four of Karnaphuli’s container ships were acquired from PIL.
The Singapore High Court sanctioned PIL’s debt restructuring on 3 March 2021, after the company’s bond holders voted on 1 February to accept PIL’s proposal to convert bonds to perpetual securities.
The debt restructuring, which PIL referred to as a scheme of arrangement, entails converting the bonds to perpetual securities, but cash payments will be accrued for at least five years before being released to the bond holders.
PIL offloaded assets throughout 2020, including its subsidiary Pacific Direct Line, while it also ended its operations on the Pacific trades in early 2020.
Since 2020, PIL has sold 25 container ships, causing it to drop out of the 10 largest liner operators. Now ranked 12th, PIL has total capacity of 248,410TEU, comprising 49 owned ships and 30 chartered vessels.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
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