Diana Shipping selling vessel that ran aground for $2.5m

The vessel changing hands is the M/V Melite, a 76,436-deadweight-ton Panamax dry bulk carrier than ran aground in Indonesia this past summer.    Barely a week after it agreed to sell up to seven of its ships for a total purchase price of over $100 million, Athens-based shipping company Diana Shipping Inc. is selling another of its vessels, the company confirmed Oct. 12.
   This sale, however, is under much less than ideal circumstances: the vessel changing hands is a one that ran aground this past summer.
   DSI, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, has an agreement in place to sell the 2004-built Marshall Islands-flagged vessel M/V Melite for demolition, on an “as is, where is” basis. The Melite, a 76,436-deadweight ton Panamax dry bulk vessel, has been out of service since it ran aground in Indonesia on July 26.
   Delivery is due to the unidentified buyers by Oct. 30, for a sale price of roughly $2.52 million USD, according to Diana Shipping.
   DSI said it has submitted a notice of abandonment to its hull and machinery underwriters, who have agreed to the sale of the vessel along the terms outlined in the above mentioned agreement.
   The notice of abandonment forms part of DSI’s claim against the vessel’s underwriters, resulting from the previously announced grounding, which if accepted, would result in the payment to Diana Shipping of the vessel’s total insured value of about $14 million USD.
   News of the sale of the Melite came about a week after DSI said it was selling up to seven of its vessels to an unidentified buyer for up to $104 million. The actual number of the vessels to be sold will depend, Diana Shipping explained, on the level and timing of financing the purchaser is able to obtain.
   Net proceeds from the sale of the vessels will be used to repay debt, DSI said.
   Upon completion of the aforementioned sale of the Melite, Diana Shipping Inc. said its fleet will consist of 50 dry bulk vessels — four Newcastlemax, 14 Capesize, five Post-Panamax, five Kamsarmax and 22 Panamax. The combined carrying capacity of the company’s fleet, including the M/V Melite, is currently about 5.9 million dwt with a weighted average age of 8.2 years, DSI said.