Thursday, June 25, 2009

Chiquita and Eastwind Maritime

Eastwind Maritime, an operator of refrigerated ships that is domiciled in the Marshall Islands, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection today in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York.

"We are taking appropriate steps to protect Chiquita's interests under these long-term charters," said Waheed Zaman, senior vice president, product supply organization.

"While Chiquita's shipping operations represent only a comparatively small part of Eastwind's business, we have been monitoring developments closely and are working with the other parties involved in the chartering relationships to help assure ongoing and timely service to our customers," Zaman said.

Chiquita Brands International said it does not expect the bankruptcy filing by Eastwind Maritime and its affiliates to adversely affect service to Chiquita's customers and the delivery of its bananas and other fresh fruit products.

It said all of the 12 oceangoing ships that the company sold in 2007 remain under long-term charter to Chiquita, including the four ships sold to Eastwind.


click here for article from Journal of Commerce

1 comment:

JRK4 said...

Wonder to what extent the demise of Eastwind is due to excessive and aggressive trading by its PROBULK arm!

My guess: very substantial share of the blame goes to Probulk.