Wenzhou Shipping, subsidiary of Zhejiang Shipping Group, liquidated its assets and sold the five vessels at a total price of RMB156.93m ($22.81m) via Taobao.

The amount of RMB156.93m closed for the sale of the ships was 27.2% higher than the auction price of RMB123.4m.

The auctioned ships included 2011-built 57,000-dwt supramax bulker Zhe Hai 167 sold for RMB67m, 2009-built 33,400-dwt handysize bulker Zhe Hai 162 sold for RMB50.2m, 2009-built 23,500-dwt handysize bulker Zhe Hai 156 sold for RMB33.88m, a tugboat sold for RMB3.8m and an oil barge sold for RMB2.05m.

The Chinese shipowner was declared bankrupt by a local court in October 2016 due to mounting debts. The parent firm Zhejiang Shipping had itself completed a restructuring last year, leaving its subsidiaries Wenzhou Shipping, Taizhou Shipping and Wuzhou Shipbuilding all bankrupt.