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Essar Shipping negotiating loan extensions

India’s Eassar Shipping is making plans to delay its debt payment by extending its loans with its lenders, The Hindu has reported.

“We are negotiating with lenders for prolongation of the loan tenure which will provide us comfort to service the loans. We are looking to enhance the loan tenure from 8 years now to 20 years depending on the life of the asset,” said Captain Anup Kumar Sharma, managing director, Essar Shipping.

“The shipping industry underwent a very bad phase in the past few years and is yet to recover. This created a problem for the whole industry, including us,” he said.

The company currently has a debt of Rs 3,000 crore ($446m) and it is expected to restructure its overseas borrowings, which accounts for 75% of its total debts, through easier repayment terms.

Eassar Shipping has 15 dry bulk and tanker vessels in its fleet and over 60 percent of the capacity is deployed for group companies including Essar Steel and Essar Oil.

“We are open to acquisitions of distressed sale assets to enhance the fleet strength provided we get a good deal,” said Captain Sharma.

Jason Jiang

Jason is one of the most prolific writers on the diverse China shipping & logistics industry and his access to the major maritime players with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives. Having been working at Asia Shipping Media since inception, Jason is the chief correspondent of Splash and associate editor of Maritime CEO magazine. Previously he had written for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week.
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