Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1997)

MARINE FINANCE

REPOSSESSION

Collecting on maritime loans gone bad isn't easy agents % % % thi they And the repo have it bad.

Recovering a ship from an oWer which has defaulted on a loan is ript quite as easy as hooking up a car to, a tow truck in the middle of the night. The legal and logistical chal- lenges involved are quite daunting, and require a very specialized expertise. Marine Risk

Management Group (MRM), a

Swiss-based loss recovery specialist enterprise, has carved its niche in this unique and growing market segment.

As all shipping bankers know, not all loans for ships turn out good.

Once it has been determined that a loan has turned bad, the (obvious) question is, what should be done?

More often than not, the answer is not clear.

Frequently, the loan is secured on a ship, and there are few or no other assets to liquidate. The financial institution's only recourse is to obtain and sell the ship. This is not, of course, something for which banks are equipped, as most bankers are used to handling money, not finding, crewing and navigating ships.

For many reasons, the mortgaged ship may be in the wrong place for the bank to place it under arrest.

Although the bank holding the first mortgage normally has a high prior- ity when it comes to claims against the ship, laws vary by jurisdiction, some of which look out for the inter- ests of local suppliers and contrac- tors first. However, almost univer- sally, maritime lien claims rank first.

Where the value of the ship is not high — say $1 to 2 million — crew wages and court fees can consume the biggest chunk of the funds if the arrest and post-arrest are not hanj died properly and expediently, it is important to remember tjaf&t a bad crew can rapidly drives^tfown a ship's value — below recovery value — in the event of a delay.

Marine Risk Management Group (MRM) works with banks, lenders and investors in these situations.

MRM operates a service called 8

Maritime Asset Recovery and

Protection (MARAP), which special- izes in finding and returning "miss- ing" ships, to expedite the turnover into cash for the lender.

This work has taken MRM all over £he world. Successful recoveries have been reportedly executed in

Asia,-Africa, Europe and North and

South American, and out of some of the most difficult locations and jurisdictions imaginable, including

Nigeria, E^pt, Tunisia, Brazil,

Uruguay, Mexico, China, Taiwan,

Japan and Indf%. MARAP is even equipped to boarckand seize ships in deep ocean.

MARAP has been active in many of the recent high-profile actions to recover ships. Notably, MRM was appointed by a number of banks who had loaned money to P^nagis

Zissimatos' Adriatic Tankers,^-and also worked to recover ships from

Silver Carriers, managers of.

Stolidi, a VLCC which blew up.

MARAP operations have also become embroiled in dramas. In

Brazil, armed military police.. (Federales) and the striking crew nearly came to full-scale battle o: ship that MRM was to seize.

MARAP officer was able id help calm both parties before sailing the ship transatlantic. f

In another case, y£iknown to

MARAP, one of the crfew feared per- sonal arrest at the,destination port, so he tried to set the ship ablaze.

More than on^s, owners of seized ships have tried to retake the ship, normally by sending illegal orders to the master, sometimes by attempting boardings.

Working The Crew

A key to success in a recovery operation is the handling of the existing crew. Customarily, the crew has not been paid and their onboard conditions are poor. They usually do not understand what has happened, and are angry with everyone coming onboard.

To help mitigate these problems,

MRM has built a strong relation- ship with the international crewing (continued on page 22) /

New Contracts

Orders are listed alphabetically, by vessel type. Publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions. For additional information on this, or other ship market information, con- tact: FERLISHIP, Paseo De San Francisco De Sales, 8, 28003 Madrid, Spain, tei: +341 441 4138; fax: +341 441 4138.

Owiw/Opwator

SANKO STEAMSHIP

FREEPORT INDONESIA

ARKLOW SHIPPING

ASAHI SHIPPING

ASAHI SHIPPING

COSCO

DREYFUS

FAIRMONT SHIPPING

FAR EASTERN SILO

GOLDEN OCEAN GROUP

GREAT CIRCLE SHIPPING AGCY

Shipyard

KVAERNER KLEVEN AS

SINGMARINE DOCKYARD

BARKMEIJER-STROOB.

MITSUBISHI HI

MITSUBISHI H I.

KAWASAKI H.I.

NIPPON KKK

ISHIKAWAJIMA HARIMA H.I.

IMABARI SHIPBUILDING

HITACHI ZOSEN

CHEUNG KU MARINE IND.

HYUNDAI MERCHANT MARINE

KASSIAN NAVIGATION AGENCY- (PAMDAKIS GROUP)

MITSUBISHI

SANKO STEAMSHIP

SHINWA KAIUN

SHINWA KAIUN

SHOWA UNE

SHOWA LINE

SHOWA UNE

HYUNDAI

MITSUI

SUMITOMO

NAMURA ZOSENSHO

IMABARI SHIPBUILDING

NAIKAI

NIPPON KKK

NKK CORP.

NKK CORP.

GUANGZHOU

DAIICHICHUO KISEN

MARICHEM EUROPE

NISSHO SHIPPING

SEATREND SHIPPING

STENERSEN

AMBITIOUS LINE

I.H.I.

TSUNEISHI

BROOKE DOCKYARD

HANJIN

SHIN KURUSHIMA

UNDENAU

MURAKAMI HIDE

TUZLA GEMI

JIANGNAN

IMABARI SHIPBUILDING

BULK CARRIER

BULK CARRIER

BULK CARRIER jf

BULK CARRIER

BULK CARBiR

BULK CjimiER

BUUfc«ARRIER

BU® CARRIER

CARRIER /

BERTRAM RICKMERS

COLUMBIA SHIPMANAGEMENT

COSCO

HENRY BREUER

HERMAN BUSS KG

KASIF KALKAVAN

MITSUI BUSAN

NEW WORLD SHIPPING J

NORASIA LINES /

NORASIA LINES /

SHIKISHIMA

BULK CARRIER

BULK CARRIER

BUOY TENDER

CABLE SHIP

CEMENT CARRIER

CHEMICAL TANKER

CHEMICAL TANKER

CHEMICAL TANKER

CHEMICAL TANKER

CONTAINER

IIPYARD SZCZECI

MAWt^r

AL^AMA SHIPYARD

J^SIETAS yWTW r SEDEFGEMI

CONTAINER

CONTAINER

CONTAINER

CONTAINER

CONTAINER

CONTAINER

IMABARI SHIPBUILDING CONTAINER

YICHANG CONTAINE

HOWALDTSWERKE DEUTSCHE WERFT CONTAINER

JIANGNAN CONTAINE

MURAKAMI HIDE CONTAINER - J' VIANA DO CASTELO CONTAINER 1 4,800 1998 _ — & VIANA DO CASTELO CONTAINER 4 7,500 1999 _

NAVIX LINE MITSUBISHI H.l. CRUDE CARRIER 1 260,000 6199 83

NISSHjJSHIPPING HITACHI ZOSEN CHUDE CARRIER 1 260,000 1999 83

NORSK HYDRO HITACHI ZOSEN DRILLING RIG 1 20,000 2/99 300

PtMJPPINES GOVERNMENT ASTILLEROS GONDAN FISHERIES RESEARCH 1 _ 1997 8.2 ^TORDE REEDEREI

SEETOURIST1K GROUP SOLSTRAND RSHING 1 1997 _

O AHLSTROM WESTCON FISHING 1 — 1997 9.99

SCLAESSON WESTCON FISHING 1 _ 1997 9.99 \

AILSA-TROON RSHING 1 _ a/97 _

StSTOIL KVAERNER RBERG FPSO 1 _ 2000 1000

NOflGTH ATLANTIC FISHING YSSEL-VUET COMBINA71E (YVC) FREEZER STERN TRWR 1 — 1998 _

KYOflQ KAIUN MIURA GENERAL CARGO 1 1,957 1997 _ — \ MIURA GENERAL CARGO t 4,500 1997 —

FINNISH NAViONAL BOARD

MIURA GENERAL CARGO ( 9,000 1997 _

ICEBREAKER/

OF NAVIGATION^. FINNYARDS OFFSHORE SUP. 1 _ 5/98 62.5

CHINESE PETROLEUM CORP MITSUBISHI H.L LNG 1 65,000 1999 —

TECHNO MARINE < MIURA IPG t 1,999 1997 _

BRIESE SCHIFFAHRT GMftj

JIANGNAN LPG 17,900 1999 200

SLOVENSKE MULTI-PURPOSE 1 3,800 1997 —

HAI SUN HUP \ HITACHI SINGAPORE MULTI-PURPOSE — 1999 35.5

IRAN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC -GUANGZHOU

WHARDING

MULTI-PURPOSE

MULTI-PURPOSE 1 22,600 2000 1997 -

OW SHIP MANAGEMENT Hlt*iQHI SINGAPORE MULTI-PURP. CARGO 4 19,150 98/99 _

DISTRICT OFFSHORE/

BROVIG OFFSHORE KVAERNER KLEVEN AS OFFSHORE 1 4,000 6/98 26

SCHIFFAHRTSKONTOR

ALTESLAND UNDST0L FUSSENGER/FERRY 1 _ 4.7

KVAERNER DAEWOO PLATFORM 1 _ 8/99 85

EIDESVIK S CO. KVAERNER KLEVEN A5\ PLATFORM SUPPLY 1 _ 3(98 31

SANKO STEAMSHIP BRATTVAG SKIPSVERFT AS PLATFORM SUPPLY 3,000 1998 „

SEA TRUCK SHIPPING BREVIK MARINE PLATFORM SUPPLY 1 — 1998 _

AP MOLLER GUANGZHOU PRODUCT TANKER 35,000 1999 55

FACIFK CARRIERS ONOMICHI PRODUCT TANKER 1 46,500 1998 31 - ELBEWERFT BOIZENBURG PRODUCT TANKER 3 2,400 1998 _

YUKONG UNE SAMSUNG ff»DUCT TANKER 2 105,000 1999 86

OCEAN RIG DAUAN SHIPYARD RIG - 8/98 22.7

EUROPEAN MARITIME KAWASAKI H.l. RoRo 2 9,500 1999 „

FVISENTINI C.N. VISENTINI RoRo 1 1,500 1998 _

SEATRANS FOSENMEKVERKSTEDER RoRo 1 8,800 1/99 40

HVIDE MARINE HALTER MARINE INC. SHIPDOCKING VESSEL 2 _ 1998 _

BONA SHIPPING SAMSUNG TANKER 3 110,000 _ 126

CMLEMOS DAUAN SHIPYARD TANKER <8 110,000 _ 80

GOLDEN OCEAN GROUP HITACHI ZOSEN TANKER f 310,000 1998 _

GREAT EASTERN SHIPPING CO. SAMSUNG TANKER 2 * 105,000 1998 80

HALLA MERCHANT MARINE HALLA TANKER 1 301,000 1998 _

HONAM OIL DAEWOO TANKER 2 300,000 98/99 240

JOHN FREDRIKSEN HYUNDAI TANKER 2 301.000 98/99 164

LOLU-GHETT! 3MAJ TANKER 2 70,700 1999 74

MISC HYUNDAI TANKER 2 105,400 1998 80

NOVOROSSIYSK SHIPPING CO. NKK CORP. TANKER i 95,000 98/99 160

OMI CORPORATION DAEWOO TANKER 2 158,000 1999 104 — DAEWOO TANKER 1 300,000 1998 80

CHINESE GOVERNMENT DONGHAI SHIPYARD TUG 3 _ 97/98 _

RIMORCHIATORI RIUNITI CANTIERE NAV. TOMMASI. TUG 2 erae _

KUWAIT OIL TANKER HYUNDAI VLCC 2 - 1998 170 45,000 45,000 200 3,500 15,000 12,000 8,500 5,250 13,700 16,000 22,525 12,200 1997 1998 1997 1997 1999 1997 1998 11/98 27.4 157

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News