SLS gets Eships lifeline

Eships has paid $100 million for a trio of medium range product tankers at the Tongyeoung based yard, which filed for bankruptcy in December after losing various court cases with the likes of Stolt-Nielsen, Glencore and D’Amico which saw eight product tanker cancellations.

Eships is thought to have bought up three of these cancelled ships at a large, 30%, discount from the original $47.5m paid originally by the Glencore and D’Amico joint venture, Glenda International Shipping in 2007. The first two ships will deliver next month and April. The new price is in line with market estimates for newbuild product tankers at the moment.

Privately-owned Eships is owned 50% each by Abu Dhabi Investment Company and Mubadala Development Company. It used to be known as Emirates Ship Investment having started out as an entity called Combined Cargo UAE.