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NEGROS
Navigation Co. (Nenaco) finally completed the
disposition of its idle assets when it sold two more of
its vessels which it has put up for sale to sustain
profitability.
Nenaco
reported a net income of P357.44 million for the first
11 months of 2007, a big turnaround from a P449-million
loss in the same period in 2006.
In a
filing with the Manila Regional Trial Court, Nenaco said
that it sold M/V San Lorenzo Ruiz and M/V Mary Queen of
Peace to Liberian firms Aria Navigation Inc. and Chaston
Navigation Inc. in November last year.
 Nenaco
told the court that it sold M/V San Lorenzo Ruiz, which
has been docked at the Manila Bay since September 12,
2005, to Chaston Navigation for $1.6 million. The
double-bottom vessel, which was built in
Japan
in 1973 and was registered in Iloilo port, has a gross
registered tonnage (GRT) of 6,051 with a top speed of 15
knots.
On the
other hand, the shipping firm said it sold M/V Mary
Queen of Peace to Aria Navigation for $1.86 million. The
7,610-GRT vessel was also built in Japan in 1974 and has
a top speed of 18 knots.
Nenaco
said it used the proceeds from the sale in paying its
loans with the Bank of Commerce, one of its creditors.
The
shipping company has put up the vessels for sale in the
last three years which have been idled by old age.
Nenaco
earlier sold M/V Saint Ezekiel Moreno and M/V Princess
of Negros for $2.6 million.
“In the
process [of the sale], it [Nenaco] has settled its
obligations to Pilipinas Shell, Avenue Asia, and the
Bank of Commerce, all of whom held chattel mortgages on
the vessels,” Nenaco receiver lawyer Monico Jacob
said his report as Nenaco’s court-appointed receiver.
Nenaco,
which is undergoing a 10-year rehabilitation that
started in 2004, owed various creditors P2.4 billion, of
which P1 billion it obtained from banks.
In
reporting profit in 2007, Nenaco said its “volume and
revenues were on target.” However, it added that such
gains were not enough to counter the adverse impact of
the lingering fuel- price hike.
“Fuel
costs exceeded budget by 17 percent due largely to the
blistering fuel-price hike,” Nenaco said in a filing.
“Accordingly, fuel-to-revenue ratio deteriorated to 47
percent for the month of November 2007 [compared with
its target of 4 percent].”
In
November 2007 alone, Nenaco carried 57,399 passengers,
beating its target by 8 percent, while it lifted freight
of about 5,960 20-foot containers, or about 5 percent
higher than its goal. |
