Moody's lowers U.S. Shipping Partners

Moody's Investors Service said it lowered its ratings of U.S. Shipping Partners LP debt, corporate family and probability of default, each to Caa1 from B2, senior secured to B3 from B1 and senior unsecured to Caa3 from Caa1.

The outlook is stable.

The agency said that the ratings were downgraded because Moody's expects further deterioration in U.S. Shipping Partners's credit metrics as debt increases at USS Products Investor LLC.

Further, funds from operations are likely to be further stressed over the near term because a majority of U.S. Shipping Partners's integrated tug-barge vessels could trade in the spot market, which could result in time charter equivalent rates below recently contracted levels and reduced use of the ITB fleet.

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