[050611.EN.SEA] The Containership Company Sells Its Only Boxship To Service Debt

TCC, the Danish subsidiary of The Containership Company (TCC), has sold its only containership, the 2,564-TEU Taicang Dragon, built in 2008, to clients of US-based Seachange Maritime for US$32.2 million.

The ship is to be renamed Imara and fly the Singaporean flag and is free of charter, after Maersk Line redelivered it earlier this month, reports Alphaliner.

It said the book value of the vessel was $29.2 million and TCC will record a gain of $3 million from the sale. TTC had acquired the ship in December 2010 from Marine Capital for $28.8 million after it exercised a purchase option that was concluded with the charter of the ship in March last year.

The sale is said to be part of the company's reconstruction plan with the Danish bankruptcy court, unveiled in April. Proceeds from the sale will be used to service debt. The company is also pursuing claims from its transpacific customers of up to $23.1 million for their failure to meet minimum shipment quantities based on service contracts signed in 2010. TCC shut down its transpacific service suddenly in April due to escalating operating losses, the report said.

"Apart from the Taicang Dragon, TCC had five ships on charter at the time of its closure. It subsequently arranged a profitable sub-charter for three of the ships with MSC. The two remaining ships could be redelivered to their owners who since managed to fixed alternative employments. Two further chartered ships had already been returned to owners prior to April," the report said.

Source: HKSG.