Finance leases (Details) - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018
Finance Liability [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Amount receivable in respect of finance leases	$ (2,880,000)	$ (2,880,000)
Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	279,033,582	296,181,882
Amounts representing interest and deferred finance fees	(50,163,519)	(54,705,784)
Net minimum finance lease payments	228,870,063	241,476,098
Amount receivable in respect of finance leases	(2,880,000)	(2,880,000)
Adjusted net minimum finance lease payments	225,990,063	238,596,098
Current portion of finance lease obligations	18,334,052	26,589,017
Current portion of deferred finance fees	(704,653)	(739,817)
Non-current portion of finance lease obligations	214,374,423	218,985,447
Non-current portion of deferred finance fees	(3,133,759)	(3,358,549)
Total finance lease obligations	228,870,063	241,476,098
Net finance lease obligations	225,990,063	238,596,098
River Hudson LLC [Member] \| Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	0	10,380,600
Japanese Leases No.1 and 2 [Member] \| Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	35,056,400	36,253,400
Japanese Lease No.3 [Member] \| Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	17,285,500	17,870,500
CMBFL Leases No.1 to 4 [Member] \| Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	85,582,288	87,496,402
Ocean Yield ASA [Member] \| Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	65,229,240	66,563,040
Japanese Lease No.4 [Member] \| Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	25,540,478	26,061,943
China Huarong Leases [Member] \| Capital Lease Obligations [Member]
Capital Leased Assets [Line Items]
Capital Leases, Future Minimum Payments Due	$ 50,339,676	$ 51,555,997

Amount necessary to reduce net minimum lease payments to present value for finance leases.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount equal to the present value (the principal) at the beginning of the lease term of minimum lease payments during the lease term before adjustment of seller's credit.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Present value of minimum lease payments for finance leases net of executory costs, including amounts paid by the lessee to the lessor for insurance, maintenance and taxes.

+ References

No definition available.

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It represents the amount of seller's credit .

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- Definition

Amount equal to the present value (the principal) at the beginning of the lease term of minimum lease payments during the lease term (excluding that portion of the payments representing executory costs such as insurance, maintenance, and taxes to be paid by the lessor, together with any profit thereon) net of payments or other amounts applied to the principal through the balance sheet date.

+ References

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of minimum lease payments for capital leases.

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Amount, after accumulated amortization, of debt issuance costs classified as current. Includes, but is not limited to, legal, accounting, underwriting, printing, and registration costs.

+ References

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Amount, after accumulated amortization, of debt issuance costs classified as noncurrent. Includes, but is not limited to, legal, accounting, underwriting, printing, and registration costs.

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Present value of lessee's discounted obligation for lease payments from finance lease.

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Present value of lessee's discounted obligation for lease payments from finance lease, classified as current.

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Present value of lessee's discounted obligation for lease payments from finance lease, classified as noncurrent.

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