Pioneer Marine boss Pankaj Khanna has indicated that he could look to further restructure some of the seven remaining handysizes the company has on order at China’s Yangzhou Guoyu Shipyard.
Khanna was speaking to Splash having just taken delivery of the second of a series of nine vessels ordered at Guoyu. The vessel, Kite Bay, has been fixed for one year on a floating rate basis linked, at a small discount, to the Baltic Supramax Index.
Summing up the current poor market conditions dry bulk operators face, Khanna commented: “The freight rates being experienced are unprecedented where rates are at $4,000 per day or below for all sizes and that is if you earn index. Including idle time, ships are making even lower.
“We have been earning a premium over index but when the index is this low that is little consolation. If rates were to continue at these levels, besides high levels of scrapping we would see the industry laying up vessels.”
With another four handysizes scheduled to deliver this year, Pioneer may be thrown a lucky break. Khanna tells Splash that the shipyard is running late on the next scheduled vessel which will have a domino effect on the rest of the deliveries.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has hovered around all-time lows since mid-December and shows no sign of improvement amid slowing economic growth in China causing turmoil in the commodity giant’s stockmarket.
Khanna was the cover star on the latest issue of Maritime CEO, detailing plans to get to Wall Street. The whole interview is accessible here.
