Samudera Shipping Line Sells Vessel Pair

zoomIllustration; Image Courtesy: Samudera Shipping Line Samudera Shipping Line has disposed of two Indonesian-flagged ships, a 16-year-old oil tanker Sinar Jogya and a 12-year-old containership Sinar Padang. As informed, Sinar Jogya was sold for USD 7.9 million, while Sinar Padang fetched a price of  USD 1.27 million. The book value of the vessels is USD 8.3 million. Accordingly, the disposal of the vessels results in the group recording a net gain on disposal of USD 0.84 million, the company said. The proceeds from the sale are planned to be utilized for working capital and business expansion of the group. Samudera said the sale of the ships was triggered by the fact that under the current Indonesian shipping law, the group is restricted from owning and registering Indonesian-flagged vessels. This also means that the company will not be able to acquire new Indonesian-flagged ships. Hence, Samudera started selling or scrapping vessels registered in Indonesia, and once it disposes of the said ships it plans to cease to provide shipping services for the domestic route within Indonesia. However, the company would continue to provide shipping services for the international route from and to Indonesia. As noted, the company still has one container vessel and a chemical tanker which it expects to dispose of within the next 12 months. Separately, the shipping company said it was considering investing in a minority stake in Indonesian company which provides shipping services for the domestic route within Indonesia. For the third quarter, Samudera Shipping Line registered a profit of USD 1.0 million from operations, compared to a loss of USD 3.1 million a year ago. Net profit attributable to owners of the company for the quarter was USD 0.5 million, which was a turnaround from a loss of USD 3.8 million in 3Q16.