Precious Shipping Public Company Limited ( PSL ) is a pure dry cargo ship-owner operating in the small handy size sector of the Tramp freight market. This segment is extremely fragmented & characterised by companies owning 2 or 3 ships. PSL was established in December 1989 and commenced commercial operations in March 1991 after obtaining the approvals from the Bank of Thailand and the Board of Investment. PSL was granted "listed" status on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on the 16th of September 1993.

The ship acquisition program was carried out in different phases. In the first phase, PSL acquired a core fleet of 7 ships having an aggregate capacity of 101,925 Dead Weight Tons (DWT). All these ships were dry bulk / general cargo ships in the size range of 10,000 - 20,000 DWT. In the second phase, in a span of 7 Months, commencing July 1991 up to January 1992, 6 ships were added to the fleet, these ships were of similar size and type as the core fleet and added 102,107 DWT to the fleet capacity. The third phase involved an addition of 10 similar ships from December 1992 to December 1993 with a total capacity of 185,923 DWT. The fourth phase came in 1996-1998 when the fleet grew to 48 ships.

With the collapse of the Asian economies in mid 1997, the freight markets collapsed and PSL commenced its first ever exercise of de-leveraging and slimming down of its balance sheet. From 1999 till the 3rd quarter of 2003 PSL slimmed down its balance sheet and ended up with just 28 ships. That was the precursor for the next phase of expansion which saw the fleet grow from 28 ships in 2003 to 54 ships by the middle of 2005. The first New building (Ananya Naree) was delivered on 14th June 2011. The second New building (Benjamas Naree) was delivered on 26th March 2012. The third New building (Chintana Naree) was delivered on 15th January 2013.The company also took delivery of two supramax (Kanchana Naree and Kirana Naree) and one Handy size (Chamchuri Naree) during Q4, 2011. The company received delivery of 3 ships (Charana Naree, Mookda Naree and Mayuree Naree) during Q1, 2012. The Company took delivery of one more ship (Mallika Naree) on 2nd April 2012. The first new building Supramax (Apiradee Naree) built in China out of the purchase of four New ShipBuilding Contracts for four Supramax Ships vide purchase of four Single Purpose Companies in December 2010 was delivered on 10th August 2012. The second New building Supramax (Baranee Naree) was delivered on 19th September 2012. The Third New building Supramax (Chayanee Naree) was delivered on 22nd October 2012. The Fourth New building Supramax (Daranee Naree) was delivered on 29th November 2012. PSL also took the delivery of the first newly-built vessel (Lanna Naree) on 15th October 2012 against the two Ship Purchase Agreements signed during August 2012. The second newly-built vessel (Latika Naree) was delivered on 19th November 2012. PSL also took the delivery of the first second-hand vessel (Warisa Naree) on 20th February 2013 against the two Ship Purchase Agreements signed during December 2012. The second second-hand vessel (Wariya Naree) was delivered on 25th April 2013. Therefore, PSL's fleet size now stands as 39 ships with a total capacity of 1,297,754 DWT.

PSL also signed 12 shipbuilding contracts on 20th July 2007 for delivery of 12 new ships of DWT 34,000 each, double hull, open hatch, semi box shaped, craned log-carriers/bulkers from ABG Shipyard. The fleet rejuvenation continued with the contracts signed in 2007-2008 for an additional Six 54,000 DWT double hull, Craned, Supramax New Buildings from ABG Shipyard and further signed 3 Shipbuilding Contracts for 3 new Cement Carriers with ABG Shipyard in 2010 to deliver to Ultratech India these Cement Carriers. The construction of the 2 Cement Carriers out of the 3 Shipbuilding Contracts has been delayed and it is very likely that the two vessels would not be delivered within the cancellation dates pursuant to the aforesaid shipbuilding contracts.The Company has cancelled one shipbuilding contract for new cement carrier and is in discussion with the Builder to cancel one more such ship building contract for new Cement Carrier. Therefore, in order to be able to deliver the vessels to the Charterer under the Time Charters in time, the Singapore subsidiaries of the Company have entered into a Shipbuilding Contract for these vessels with China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co., Ltd. and Shanhaiguan New Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd with Chinese Builder on 5thDecember 2012. The company has entered into one more shipbuilding contract on 3rd April 2013. These 3 Cement Carriers will be delivered in 2014.

Out of the above Shipbuilding Orders, PSL has received the delivery of Three (3) 34,000 DWT New Buildings. Due to the indefinite delays in delivery dates of the New buildings, PSL has novated Five (5) 34,000 DWT New Building Contracts and Four (4) 54,000 DWT New Building Contracts. Therefore, Four (4) 34,000 DWT Ship, Two (2) 54,000 DWT Ships and Two (2) 20,000 DWT Cement Carriers are yet to be delivered by ABG Shipyard.

Great Circle Shipping Agency Limited (“Great Circle”) is wholly owned subsidiary of PSL. Great Circle was set up in 1988 in order to provide Technical Management Services for ships owned by the “Precious Shipping Public Company Ltd”. A modest beginning was made in December 1988 with a fleet size of 5 ships. By 2005, Great Circle was well established, with 61 ships under their technical management including bulk carriers, tween-deckers, general cargo ships and specialised ship like cement carrier. J. Mansukhani, Director of Great Circle, joined the company on the eve of its formation and has built a close-knit team of professionals who man various key positions in the company. For more information visit Great Circle's web site.