Quintana Takes Delivery of Vessel From Metrobulk

Quintana Maritime Limited took delivery of Iron Knight, the last Panamax bulk carrier that the company agreed to acquire from Metrobulk. Iron Knight was built in June 2004 at Tsuneishi, a Japanese shipyard and has a carrying capacity of 76,429 deadweight tons (dwt). Because Iron Knight was delivered later than the contracted delivery date, an affiliate of Metrobulk paid approximately $1.7 million to Quintana under the terms of the memorandum of agreement. This payment effectively reduces the purchase price of the vessel. To date, Quintana has received approximately $3.1 million in late delivery payments from Metrobulk, reducing the aggregate purchase price of the fleet to approximately $731.9 million. As previously announced, Iron Knight, together with eight other vessels, is employed at an average daily rate of approximately $23,000 per day for 2007 under a master time charter with Bunge S.A. . Quintana Maritime has fixed the rates for all seventeen vessels it has acquired or has agreed to acquire from Metrobulk. The master charter agreement with Bunge S.A calls for annual renewals in early November every year between floor and ceiling rates, and lasts through the end of 2010. As a result of these fixtures, Quintana has secured almost 93% of its expected net operating days for 2007 under charters with fixed rates. Quintana believes it currently enjoys the highest time charter coverage amongst its public peers.