Palmer offloaded shipping line as refinery funds flowed to PUP

Clive Palmer sold off his shipping empire in early 2014, raising more than $100 million for Queensland Nickel.

Clive Palmer at the unveiling of plans for a Titanic II in New York in 2013.

Clive Palmer sold off his shipping empire in early 2014, raising more than $100 million for Queensland Nickel as it was diverting funds to the self-proclaimed billionaire’s political party.

The sale of his four shipping companies — Asia Pacific Shipping Enterprise I, II, III and IV — took place in January 2014, but was declared on Mr Palmer’s ­register of financial interests only last month.

Each of the companies holds a 64,000-tonne bulk carrier operating under the fleet name of Asia Ruby. The ships, which are 200m long and 30m wide, are still operating out of Singapore.

The four ships were part of Mr Palmer’s plans to vertically integ­rate Queensland Nickel and were to be used to import nickel ore to the Yabulu refinery in Townsville, which is now in ­administration.

Revelation of the $100m cash injection into QNI before the company’s collapse comes as ­administrators run out of assets to sell to save the refinery, and as they call for a $10m bailout for the business and its 500-plus workers.

Documents lodged by the member for Fairfax last month state that he disposed of the “priv­ate companies overseas”, namely APSE SPV I-IV on January 22 last year. He did not declare the sale until February 2 this year, in an ­apparent breach of parliamentary requirements that MPs notify any changes to the pecuniary interests register within 28 days.

However, documents obtained by The Australian from the Singapore company register suggest the sale took place even earlier.

As at January 28, 2014, the ultim­ate holding company of the shipping businesses was QNI Resources­, but on January 29, 2014, the “entire shareholding” was sold to Maritime Asia Ruby, a based in Singapore that is in turn owned by Asia Sapphire.

The documents reveal the company paid about $US22.5m for each vessel, which it has valued on its books at closer to $US30m.

In a peculiar twist, the company’s 2014 financial report says it still owed $US6.57m to QNI, but the debt was “unsecured, interest-free and repayable on demand”.

APSE director Kwa Lay San ­declined to ­explain the circumstances of the sale. “I am in no position to give you further information; this is a private company,” she said.

Mr Palmer first announced plans to build the four ships in 2012 at a cost of $130m, saying they would be built at the CSC Jinling shipyard in Nanjing, China, which was also building the Titanic II. As revealed in The Australian last year, workers at the shipyard said the $500m Titanic project had never been given the formal go-ahead and had been shelved.

The sale of the bulk carrier companies took place during the 2014-15 financial year, when QNI donated $5,947,720 to the Palmer United Party. The market for bulk vessels has plummeted on the back of the commodities downturn and overcapacity in the shipping industry. The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks freight rates, fell last week to the lowest level in its 30-year history.

Mr Palmer did not respond to requests for comment.

Additional reporting: Paul Garvey