German multipurpose (MPP) operator Hansa Heavy Lift (HHL) has filed for insolvency.
Private equity shareholder Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree) confirms that an insolvency petition was submitted to a court in Hamburg earlier today.
Oaktree blamed “an extremely challenging operating environment in the global shipping industry.”
The US investor, which established HHL out of the ashes of collapsed MPP operator Beluga Shipping in 2011, argued it had been “a committed investor” in HHL over the past seven years.
Oaktree had “worked tirelessly with the HHL’s management team to thoroughly evaluate all potential strategic avenues to ensure the viability of the business,” it said.
It blamed the decision to pull the plug on “the ongoing structural challenges in the global heavy lift shipping sector."
“Oaktree has decided not to make any additional capital investments in the business,” it said.
The move brings the curtain down on a move into multipurpose shipping which has proven disastrous for the US capital management firm.
Some reports speculate that that HHL bankruptcy was triggered by the arrest of the 12,776-dwt HHL Elbe (built 2008), in the French port of Rouen.
But sources close to Oaktree say there were many structural issues that led to its demise. They argue that the insolvency filing was the last step in a painful process which included unsuccessful attempts to restructure debt.
HHL is listed with a fleet of 10 MPP vessels built between 2009 and 2012 ranging from 12,000-dwt through to 20,000-dwt.
It has sold some of its smaller and more fuel-efficient MPP vessels in the past year, but efforts to hive off its larger, fuel-inefficient P-type vessels appear to have been unsuccessful.
