Greece: FreeSeas Sells MV ‘Free Knight’

FreeSeas Inc, a transporter of dry-bulk cargoes through the ownership and operation of a fleet of five Handysize vessels and one Handymax vessel, revealed yesterday that the company has sold the M/V Free Knight, a 1998-built, 24,111 dwt Handysize dry bulk carrier for a gross sale price of $3.6 million.

The company said that, as a result, a non-cash impairment charge of approximately $24 million will be reflected in its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013. The Company expects to recognize in its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013, a non-cash gain of approximately $10 million on the extinguishment of debt with release of the mortgages on the M/V Free Knight and M/V Free Maverick, as a result of the recent Debt Purchase and Settlement Agreement with Deutsche Bank and the Exchange Agreement with Crede Capital.

Mr. Ion G. Varouxakis, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company commented: “The sale of the M/V Free Knight constitutes part of the balance sheet clean-up process of the company and reorganization of its assets. The Company favors utilizing its resources towards existing vessels with optimal commercial and technical specifications and new acquisitions that can immediately produce income, instead of spending rather long amounts of time and disproportionate amounts of capital on assets such as the M/V Free Knight, which had been sitting idle and was facing an expensive dry-dock to return to service.”

[mappress]

FreeSeas, March 5, 2014; image Wikimedia