Wilh Wilhelmsen is expressing confidence in a win as it continues a long-running fight to get money back from an Indonesian company accused of defaulting on a bareboat charter in 2009.
Christian Due, chairman of the Norwegian shipowner's Skips AS Tudor holding company, said investors in Norwegian KS (limited partnership) Parbulk 2 will push hard to succeed in a $32m claim against Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi over the charter of the 70,000-dwt bulker Mahakam (built 1996).
“It has taken a lot of time, but we are not known as someone who easily give in,” Due said.
Parbulk 2 is cooperating with other creditors that have the same view on the matter, he said.
Parbulk 2, which is led by Wilh Wilhelmsen through Tudor's 20% stake, had chartered out the Mahakam on a five-year bareboat charter at $38,500 per day that began in December 2007. The deal came as the Norwegian KS bought the ship from Humpuss for $67.5m.
2009 start
In the spring of 2009, Humpuss stopped paying the hire fees, and Parbulk 2 soon started a legal process against the Indonesian company.
The Mahakam was scrapped in November 2015.
Meanwhile, Tudor has reported it as a loss in its annual report as it took a hit from a strategic 19.1% stake in Oslo-listed car carrier operator Wilh Wilhelmsen Holding, which had a poor year in 2018.
Tudor had a pre-tax loss of NOK 213m ($23.6m) last year, against a NOK 134m profit in 2017. The company had book equity of NOK 1.98bn at the end of last year.
Tudor has a diversified investment portfolio, with financial investments, property and shipping.
The company was set up in 1953 and is chaired by shipowner Wilhelm Wilhelmsen, 82, with his son, Thomas, as chief executive.
