Cargoship Maritime, a Netherlands-based vessel operating company, has entered into talks for restructuring its time charter portfolio. The aim is to renegotiate the time charters of the vessels in the company to better reflect market prospects.

The renegotiation will affect time charters of 22 ships currently trading (mostly tankers) and 13 different owners.

All of the vessels affected by the renegotiation are commercially managed by Netherlands-based Seaarland Shipping Management.

“The world has changed in a way few could have anticipated and shipping in general has entered a very tough period,” Antonio Zacchello, Managing Director of Seaarland Shipping Management said.

“We all have to adjust to that. The charters within the company were made in different times and are not sustainable in this market. We need to renegotiate the charter rates and periods in order to allow the company to carry on its business and be positioned for the future when the market will recover and the company can resume its charter obligations.

“We will present everyone involved with a restructuring plan which will be balanced and equal and if that is accepted we can continue payments and the company can go on.

“Meanwhile we can continue to trade... we have the support of our banks and if everyone involved behaves sensibly we can see a clear way forward which avoids dissolving the company.”