Bloomberg reported that China Cosco Holdings Co, the state controlled sea cargo giant that had ships seized in fee disputes, has resumed charter payments to DryShips Inc and Jinhui Shipping & Transportation Ltd.

Mr Ziad Nakhleh CFO of Athens based DRSI said that DryShips is receiving payments from Cosco for three vessels that were previously subject to arbitration.

Mr Raymond Ching VP of JIN said that Jinhui has also received money it was owed.

Neither elaborated on how much was handed over.

Tianjin based Cosco said last week that it had reached agreements covering 18 different ships, which were predominately hired in long term deals agreed to before a plunge in rates.

Mr Jon Windham analyst with Barclays Capital said that the company may have failed to win lower fees because its size and state backing may have made ship owners less willing to compromise. He said “It isn’t the biggest, strongest player that gets out of these contracts, It’s the smaller, weaker players because they have a credible threat of bankruptcy, which could leave shipowners getting nothing.”


(Sourced from Bloomberg)