3 Tata ships sell for Rs 1,600 crore

MUMBAI: The Tata Group has agreed to sell three ships to Germany’s Oldendorff Carriers for $213 million (Rs 1,600 crore) as part of its debt-reduction plan.
The three merchant ships were bought by the conglomerate through Trust Energy Resources, a company based in Singapore, to transport coal from international markets to India. The group uses imported coal to fire its power station in Mundra, Gujarat. Once the sale of the cargo carriers are concluded, the group will have an asset-light model for the shipping requirements of the thermal power business.
Trust Energy was set up in 2007, a year after the conglomerate bagged the 4,000MW Mundra project. Apart from Trust Energy, the conglomerate owns ships through Tata NYK, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Japan’s NYK Line.