Zeamarine is reportedly disposing of vessels to deal with its financial losses. The fast-growing shipping company last month announced that it has hired a restructuring specialist to take over the management of the company and turn things around.
According to brokers, BBC Chartering has already taken over six Zeamarine vessels on time charter contracts, reports Shippingwatch. It concerns six vessels with a deadweight of around 12,500 tonnes with the contract duration varying from twelve to 24 months.
Shipowners with ships on charter to Zeamarine are also said to be looking for alternative customers to lease their ships to, the brokers say.
SWZ|Maritime’s sister publication Project Cargo Journal (PCJ) has reached out to Zeamarine, but the company declined to comment.
Restructuring
The problems at Zeamarine became apparent last month after the sudden departure of CCO Dominik Stehle and co-founder and managing partner Jan Hendrik Többe. Subsequently, Zeamarine announced that it hired restructuring specialist Sven Lundehn from Alldatax to take over management of the company. In maritime circles, Lundehn is widely known for leading the insolvency process of Beluga Shipping, which before its bankruptcy in 2011 was one of the largest heavy-lift shipping companies in the world.
In a brief statement e-mailed to PCJ, spokesperson Holger Römer said that Sven Lundehn has been brought in as Managing Director to re-establish the company and align the business strategy with the vision of the senior management. ‘Contrary to the sentiment of the articles written, we can provide assurance that our company is performing and shareholders are committed with their support for the continuation of our business,’ Römer added.
Rapid Growth
Zeamarine was initially founded as Zeaborn by Jan Hendrik Többe and Ove Meyer in 2013. Meyer already left the company last summer. In a statement at the time, the company said that after six years of leading Zeabron through rapid growth, Meyer wanted to pursue new opportunities.
In only five years time, Zeaborn grew from a new shipping company to the fourth largest MPV-operator in the world. Most notably, Zeamarine was able to climb quickly by taking over the fleets of Rickmers-Linie and Intermarine.
The rapid expansion has now caught up with the company, which is rumoured to be losing money as a result of higher charter rates and disappointing freight rates.
This article first appeared on PCJ. Picture by Zeamarine.
