Hansa Heavy Lift, the Hamburg-based successor to Beluga Shipping, is insolvent according to multiple sources in Germany and the UK.
Hansa Heavy, whose main shareholder is American private equity firm Oaktree, has been under financial pressure for a number of years. Its ship, HHL Elbe, was arrested recently in Rouen, France over unpaid bunker bills.
The company was founded in 2011 from the ashes of Beluga Shipping, one of the most high profile bankruptcies seen in the heavylift sector.
Germany’s chief consolidator of shipping lines, Zeaborn, was being widely tipped as bidding for troubled Hansa Heavy Lift this September but nothing materialised from the rumours.
Officials at Hansa Heavy Lift have not replied to questions sent by Splash earlier. The company has a fleet of five ships operating in the heavylift markets.
