Rickmers denies scrapping of seven-year-old containership

Various news outlets reported last week the containership owner and lessor Rickmers Maritime had sold the 4,250-TEU vessel India Rickmers for scrap, but the company said in a statement no sale has been concluded.    Singapore’s Rickmers Trust Management Pte. Ltd., acting as trustee-manager of troubled containership owner Rickmers Maritime, is refuting reports from various maritime news outlets that the firm has scrapped a 4,250-TEU boxship called the India Rickmers.
   At only seven years old, the vessel would have been the youngest containership ever to be sold for scrap. Ship lessors have been scrapping younger and younger vessels this year as excess capacity continues to put intense pressure on charter rates.
   Athens, Greece-based owner and lessor Diana Containerships earlier this month confirmed the sale of the 10-year-old M/V Angeles, the youngest boxship ever scrapped, to an unnamed demolition yard for $6.69 million before commissions.
   “As previously disclosed in its announcement dated 7 September 2016, the Trustee-Manager (Rickmers Trust Management) is in negotiations with one of the Trust’s (Rickmers Maritime) senior lenders in relation to agreeing terms of a debt settlement agreement,” the company said in a statement. “In connection with the potential debt settlement agreement, the Trust is considering, amongst other things, the sale of the [India Rickmers]. The negotiations in relation to the potential debt settlement agreement are ongoing and no sale of the vessel has been concluded.”
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the India Rickmers was most recently chartered to OOCL, serving on the carrier’s intra-Asia KTX2 loop, on which APL purchases slots.
   The KTX2 operates with three vessels with an average capacity of 4,350 TEUs. The service has a full port rotation of Osaka, Kobe, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Laem Chabang, Shekou, Hong Kong, Xiamen and Osaka.