Three containerships are to be sold in Malta after Bank of America Merrill Lynch obtained a court order.
The 2,872-teu sisterships Algorrobo (built 2009), Andes (built 2008) and Andino (built 2007) will be auctioned by the Civil Court in Valletta on 30 September.
The sales will be on an "as is, where is" basis, the sales notice says.
The vessels are anchored off Malta.
VesselsValue assesses the sub-panamaxes Algorrobo as worth $9.15m, while the Andes is estimated to be worth $7.94m and the Andino is valued at $7.03m.
TradeWinds reported earlier this year that Germany’s NSC Schiffahrt and Greece’s Interunity Management Corp had taken over the operation of the five sub-panamax sisterships with outstanding claims against them.
The Arica (built 2007) was auctioned by a court in Delaware, US, in July to Marshall Islands-registered Robin 4 Shipping for $6.5m.
Its owner, FS Arica of Liberia, had failed to pay bills to suppliers and bunker providers.
The fifth unit is the 2,872-teu Austral (built 2008), which is anchored in Spain and is not part of the Malta sales process.
The vessels' ownership changed from limited partnership (KG) in 2016. All were then owned by single-ship companies with the FS prefix.
TradeWinds understands this signified Freedom Shipping, a company that this publication has previously reported as being linked to low-key, London-based Norwegian owner Christopher Paus.
His Pausco Agencies is described by Interunity as the former manager.
The five vessels were under new ownership in July, with Interunity as the owner’s agent. Interunity said it could not reveal more details due to contractual confidentiality.
The Greek company described the ships as part of a “restructuring portfolio”.
TradeWinds has also reported that the registered owners of the five ships are suing Columbia Shipmanagement for $11.5m, accusing the Cypriot manager of lying about their financial status and failing to maintain the ships.
The lawsuits were filed in the High Court in London in July and in the US District Court for Delaware in August.
