Marshall Islands-registered drybulk and container shipping company Navios Maritime Partners L.P. faces historically low drybulk charter rates, which we think will not recover in the next 12-24 months. We expect the company will see constrained earnings in 2016 and 2017, and will not achieve credit measures commensurate with a 'BB' rating. In our view, management's ability to enhance Navios Partners' credit quality has significantly diminished, due to the protracted downturn in the drybulk shipping industry, as reflected in the company facing a tightened covenant cushion. As a result, we now consider management and governance to be satisfactory, compared with strong previously. We are therefore lowering our rating on the company to 'B+' from 'BB'. The negative outlook reflects our view
