EuropeOperations

‘That’s it, Flinter is no longer’: Dutch line dissolves

Today marks the final day of operations for one of the Netherlands’ largest shipowners.

Flinter Group, a multipurpose vessel owner, was forced into bankruptcy as lead creditor ING stopped funding the line and sought to sell off much of its fleet. This week Denmark’s Thorco Shipping won in auction nine of Flinter’s ships for $42.7m.

“That’s it, Flinter is no longer,” management at the Dutch line posted on social media yesterday, adding that December 23 was the company’s final day of operations.

When ING decided to turn off the finance taps in October, Flinter management attacked the bank for making the wrong move.

“In our opinion there are only losers: our staff on shore and on the vessels, the owners of the vessels and Flinter, the many partners and suppliers that support the vessels in the recent years with better payments terms etc. It is also expected that the bank will lose millions,” Flinter said in a release on its website two months ago.

As well as being an owner, Flinter, founded in 1989, has been a shipmanager.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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