ESL Shipping Secures Funds for New LNG-Powered Bulkers

ESL Shipping Finnish dry bulk shipping company ESL Shipping has entered into EUR 50 million (USD 52.9 million) agreements to finance its two 25,600 dwt Handy bulk carriers currently under construction at Chinas Jinling Shipyard Nanjing. Signed with OP Corporate Bank Plc on November 24, the total value of the two separate agreements is EUR 50 million, and the loan period is seven years. ESL Shipping said that the repayment schedule includes a grace period of three years and a payback profile of 12 years. The new agreements extend the average maturity of Aspo Groups financing and, on their part, reduce the average financing rate, the company added. Scheduled to be delivered in January 2018, the two new, ice-class 1A ships will be the first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled large bulk carriers in the world, according to ESL Shipping. The bulkers, expected to start operating in the Baltic Sea during first half of 2018, were initially ordered at Qingshan Shipyard. In September 2016, ESL Shipping decided to assign the building of the bulk carriers to China’s Jinling Shipyard, operated by Sinotrans & CSC Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. The total value of the investment for the bulkers, announced in November 2015, is around EUR 60 million, ESL Shipping earlier said. World Maritime News Staff