Navrom Vessels Sold At Auction

PriceWaterhouseCoopers, liquidator of Romanian state-run shipping company Navrom Constanta, said it sold six Navrom-owned cargo vessels at an auction in the Black Sea port of Constanta. A PricewaterhouseCoopers statement said the six ships, with capacities ranging from 2,800 dwt to 4,800 dwt had been sold "as are, where are" for a total of $1.44 million. Last year, a court in Constanta launched bankruptcy procedures against Navrom due to unpaid debts worth tens of millions of dollars. PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed liquidator of company assets. Some 320 ships sailed under Navrom flag before the 1989 collapse of communism. In 1999, the company operated less then 20 ships. In 1990, Romania's merchant fleet was split into three firms -- Navrom, Romline and Petromin -- which seven years later revealed combined losses of more than 300 billion lei. No fresh figure of their losses were immediately available.