Danish project and multipurpose cargoship group Thornico is quitting shipowning after it agreed to place its last two vessel-owning companies into bankruptcy.
Danish daily Finans reported that the single-ship entities had been declared bankrupt by the district court in Odense because they could not pay their debts.
The ships involved are the 19,600-dwt Thorco Isabella and the 13,800-dwt Thorco Isadora (both built 2011).
Thomas Mikkelsen, director of shipping activities at Thornico, told TradeWinds: "There is no drama nor anything in danger here. It's two ... companies whose only purpose was/is to hold ownership of two ships."
The vessels will now be sold at the request of lender Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB).
Asset-light strategy
"As a part of our long-term strategy plan we are selling our assets and focusing on our asset-light strategy," Mikkelson said.
"These two ships are the last in our fleet and will now be sold, hence the two ownership companies will be closed down."
He added that the move is in cooperation with the ships' financier.
The move, which is described as procedural and not related to the coronavirus pandemic, has "no effect on any third-party creditors nor any other company within our group".
The debt to the bank was DKK 22m ($3.2m) and the companies owed other companies in the Thornico group DKK 14m.
VesselsValue assesses the Isadora as worth $8.46m and the Isabella at $8.63m.
Happy with pandemic performance
"We are very, very happy and proud about our performance and result last year as well as year to date," Mikkelson told TradeWinds.
"Despite of challenging time during Covid-19, our firm strategy [of] being an asset-light operator is working extremely effectively."
He added that the company is experiencing steady activity growth.
"Despite ... the turbulence in the market then we are used to be agile to quickly adapt to new environment," the executive said. "We have succeeded to do so, hence we remain very positive throughout the year."
No one loses out
Thornico co-owner Christian Stadil told Finans that no small creditors will lose money on the bankruptcies.
And he added that it is a "basic strategy" in the group that its 200 separate companies must manage themselves.
Last November, Thornico company TS Chartering went bankrupt with a debt of DKK 160m, mainly for unpaid bunker and charter bills.
Creditors were reported to have little chance of getting their money back.
TS redelivered its fleet of five dry cargo ships as it entered compulsory bankruptcy proceedings following consistent losses.
The group is also co-owned by Thor Stadil. The latest TS Chartering accounts from 2017 showed a loss of DKK 41m.
