ATHENS: Paragon Shipping has delayed delivery of its three kamsarmax newbuildings from China’s Jiangsu New Yangzijiang shipyard.
The three 81,800-dwt vessels were originally scheduled to arrive this year but delivery has been moved to the first quarter of 2016, the Athens-based owner said today.
Deliveries of Paragon’s two new ultramax drybulk carriers remain unchanged. The vessels are scheduled to arrive during the third and fourth quarters of 2015.
Paragon is using $78m of a $160m syndicated secured loan facility led by Nordea Bank Finland to pay for the two ultramax and two of the kamsarmax newbuildings, but still needs to secure financing for the third kamsarmax.
“We believe that we are taking steps to the right direction, given this difficult market. We are pleased to note that positive signs have emerged with respect to the supply side, as a significant number of vessels are heading to the scrapyards, while the market participants refrain from ordering new vessels and delay the delivery of the already placed newbuilding orders,” Michael Bodouroglou (pictured), Paragon’s chairman, CEO and interim CFO, said in the company’s financial results for the first quarter 2015.
“Nonetheless, it seems that a healthy equilibrium, by historical standards, is yet to be reached and, consequently, we continue to remain cautious for the near future.”
Rates in the panamax market, in which kamsarmax vessels trade, are still low but are showing signs of improvement. Today the Baltic Panamax Index reached 608 points, up 12 points on Friday’s level. The index has grown every consecutive trading day for the past week since June 1, when the index was at 522 points.
