EMEA News
TMT: Banks Causing "Hardship" for Crew
Troubled Taiwanese ship owner Today Makes Tomorrow (TMT) says banks are "causing needless hardship" to its crew members and hurting its customers by preventing one of its ships from operating, the company had said in an emailed press release.
The company said vehicle exporters in Africa, Europe, and China are facing losses because the roro carrier C Ladybug has been detained at the Port of Antwerp in Belgium and has not been allowed to resume operations.
"The lawyers banks which use legal manoeuvres in the Belgian courts which are far away from Asia where C Ladybug and its crew are based are causing needless hardship to the seafarers onboard," a TMT spokesperson said in the written statement.
"There is little TMT can do as the full responsibility lies with those in Belgium who seem to think that by stopping C Ladybug from earning money debts will get paid faster."
The spokesman said the exporters and importers are being penalized by "the high-handed behaviour of banks who want to see TMT go under."
A U.S. court ruled in June that the shipper's vessels should be allowed to use cash to pay bunker suppliers after banks in Taiwan were said to have prevented the company from paying fuel and crew costs for the C Ladybug at Antwerp and the A Whale off Suez.
