MSC 'actively monitoring situation' with vessels chartered from insolvent Rickmers

The Geneva-headquartered container line has the vessels John Rickmers, Sandy Rickmers and the MSC Florida on charter from Rickmers. MSC noted that the charters on two of the vessels expires in September this year.

“MSC is actively monitoring the situation and is ready to act quickly should a creditor take action against any of the three vessels.  MSC is preparing contingency plans and will act as quickly as possible to minimise the delays to customer's cargo,” the company said.

German containership Rickmers Group filed for insolvency on 1 June after HSH Nordbank pulled its support for a planned restructuring. Although having filed for insolvency Rickmers is aiming to work out a new restructuring solution.

The bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping left billions of dollars worth of cargo stranded on containerships operated both by Hanjin and its alliance partners. MSC also has customers with cargo on partner lines with ships chartered from Rickmers.

“Where MSC has slot charter agreements with other shipping lines who are operating Rickmers-owned vessels and MSC has containers on board, MSC is ready to cooperate with those lines to minimise the delays to cargo if any action is taken against those vessels,” MSC said.