October 08, 2008

SCI to raise USD 300 million through ECBs

Exim News Service quoted Mr S Hajara CMD of Shipping Corporation of India as saying that SCI would raise USD 300 million (INR 1,206 crore) through external commercial borrowings to finance its vessel acquisition plans. But SCI would require a separate sanction from the union government to do this.

Mr Hajara said that SCI would sign MoUs within 2 weeks to buy 6 ships. It would be allowed to pay 20% of the contract price from internal resources and for the remaining 80%, it would have to borrow. He said that SCI is sitting on a cash reserve of INR 2,500 crore and its net worth was now INR 4,000 crore.

India’s cabinet committee on economic affairs has recently cleared Shipping Corporation of India’s proposal to acquire 12 new vessels for INR 3,193 crore. It will acquire 4 Aframax tankers of about 1,10,000 DWT each, 2 product tankers of 95,000 DWT each, 4 Panamax bulk carriers of about 75,000 DWT each and 2 cellular container vessels of about 5,000 TEUs each. SCI’s plan for acquisition of 12 ships will help meet the demand of increased crude transportation.