Shanghai: Dry bulk shipping firm Golden Ocean has delayed delivery of 19 newbuild vessels in order to deal with the downturn in the bulk shipping market.
The company reported a net loss of $15.3m for the first quarter of 2015 and said earnings were hit by idle vessels and vessels being delivered from yard with expensive bunker and start-up costs, in addition to the disappointing situation in the bulker sector.
“We have reached agreements with several of our yards to delay the delivery dates of 19 newbuildings by 79 months in aggregate. These changes resulted in an increase in newbuilding commitments of $1.1m such that we are committed to make newbuilding installments of $936.6m with expected payments of $330.7 m, $471.4m and $134.5m in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively,” the company said in a release.
Currently most of Golden Ocean’s newbuildings are being constructed at Chinese yards including Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, Bohai Shipbuilding Industry, New Times Shipbuilding, CSSC Chengxi Shipyard and Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
Golden Ocean said that the lengthy arbitration process against Jinhaiwan Shipyard came to an end in April and the company has received a full refund for all of the nine contracts, including an interest amount of $40.5m.
