Pacific International Lines (PIL) has sold three more vessels as the Singapore-based liner operator continues to improve its balance sheet.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]One ship, the 2013-built multi-purpose vessel Kota Budi, with 1,391TEU capacity, sold to Singapore-based Pacific Carriers, which also purchased a sister vessel, Kota Bintang, from PIL in December 2020.
Pacific Carriers operates an intra-Asia service through its subsidiary, PACC Container Line. The Kota Budi and Kota Bintang have been renamed PAC Canopus and PAC Capella, respectively. The Kota Budi sale price was not disclosed, but the ship has a current market value of US$19.09 million.
Another multi-purpose vessel, the 2012-built, 1,497TEU Kota Bayu, was sold to Germany’s Briese Schiffahrt, which owns BBC Chartering. The sale price was not disclosed but the ship, renamed BBC Norway, has a current market value of US$21.41 million.
PIL also continued to clear out its dry bulk carrier fleet, with the sale of the Supramax vessel Glovis Madonna to an unnamed Chinese buyer for US$9.6 million, amid speculation that PIL may be exiting the segment to concentrate on containers.
VesselsValue shows that PIL concluded the sales of Kota Budi and Kota Bayu in December 2020, but the ships left the company’s fleet in February 2021.
The sales come ahead of a High Court hearing set for 3 March 2021, to sanction PIL’s debt restructuring, after the company’s bond holders voted on 1 February to accept the company’s proposal to convert the 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 has struggled in recent years, eventually turning to Heliconia Capital, a unit of the Singapore Government’s investment company Temasek Holdings, which is offering a US$452 million loan.
The company offloaded assets throughout 2020, including its subsidiary Pacific Direct Line, while it also ended its operations on the Pacific trades in early 2020. Twenty one ships, were sold in 2020.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
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