FSL Trust Divests Two Containerships

FSL Trust Management Pte. Ltd., as the trustee-manager of First Ship Lease Trus, announced that the Trust has completed the disposal of Ever Radiant and Ever Respect for a cash consideration of approximately $10,800,000.

Ever Radiant and Ever Respect are Japanese-built, 4,229 TEU containerships built in 1994 and 1995 respectively. The two vessels have been on bareboat charter to Evergreen Marine Corporate Ltd, a global container shipping company listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, since 2006, with the lease finishing at the end of this month.

FSL Trust’s fleet now stands at 22 vessels comprising five containerships, 12 product tankers, three chemical tankers and two crude oil tankers.

Just over $8,000,000 of the proceeds from the disposal of the vessels will be applied to the outstanding loan facility, subsequently reducing the Trust’s quarterly loan repayment by approximately $320,000 from the first quarter of this year.

The sale will incur a loss on disposal of $ 4.2 million across the two vessels in 1Q2016, following a writedown in 4Q2015 of approximately $1 million.

Alan Hatton, Chief Executive Officer of FSLTM, said, “Despite the Trust’s best efforts, given the current container market environment, further employment for the vessels could not be found and the decision to dispose of them was taken swiftly to protect unitholder value. The proceeds will be primarily used to reduce the Trust’s outstanding debt and scheduled debt repayments going forward.”