Cosco Shipyard along with Hong Kong-headquartered ship management and chandlery companies are among the top 50 unsecured creditors after New York-listed tanker operator General Maritime (Genmar) filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Thursday.
Jeremy Harwood, a partner in law firm Blank Rome, said it was the 'largest maritime bankruptcy ever filed in the US' but it was unlikely to be the last given the state of the shipping markets.
Documents filed in the US Bankruptcy Court in New York show Genmar had total debts of US$1.4 billion including a US$300 million bond up to the end of September. Total assets, mainly the firm's fleet of 33 tankers, were valued at US$1.7 billion.
Hong Kong's Anglo-Eastern Group, which provides ship and crew management and supervisory services for ships under construction, was owed US$953,335 by Genmar, followed by mainland shipbuilder Cosco Shipyard (Zhoushan) which was owed US$921,932.
Court papers show a further US$109,328 was due to Kylin Worldwide (Hong Kong), which supplies marine paints and other coatings, while Wallem, another ship management and ship services firm, was owed US$48,402.
Anglo-Eastern chief executive Peter Cremers said Genmar remained a client 'so it may not be strategically correct I make comments'. But he added: 'At this moment, at our level it seems very much business as usual as ships need to earn money. Hence they need to be running, hence operating costs need to be funded.' The company manages the day-to-day operations, including providing crew, of several Genmar tankers from its Singapore office.
Harwood said a further court hearing was due to be held yesterday that would seek the judge's approval of key elements of Genmar's corporate restructuring. This included clearance for a restructuring agreement that was signed on Wednesday between Genmar, senior secured creditors and OCM Marine Investments, part of Oaktree Capital Management.