Clipper escapes large order program

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Clipper has previously had a construction program of 60 new ships, but the shipping company will not have to take large proportion of the ships, which would have been hard to make profitable with the current cargo rates. "We have probably only 13 to 15 new constructions left.

The yards cannot deliver and we have succeeded in escaping the agreements. With the world changing as it is, we believe that we got of cheaply", explains Clipper CEO Frank G. Jensen to the daily Borsen.

Several of the Asian yards have so great financial difficulties that they agree to dissolve previous contracts. A number of the shipping companies want the orders to be cancelled, because the market would otherwise be flooded with new capacity at a time where the rates are low.

Clipper has already returned several of its chartered ships. This means that the shipping company today has 70 dry cargo ships at its disposal compared to 140 when the market peaked. It is the smallest fleet the company has had in six years.

Source: Maritime Danmark