US Shipping goes into bankruptcy

Paul Gridley and Albert Bergeron, who left last year as US Shipping’s chief executive and chief financial officer respectively, have surfaced as creditors, to whom US Shipping owes close to US$1m each.
The New York-listed Jones Act tanker company, which is a limited partnership, had a deadline of April 30 to hammer out an acceptable restructuring with its lenders.
The Chapter 11 petition was filed a day earlier, instead of seeking another loan extension.
The lenders had kept extending the deadline since last summer, in hopes that the company’s desire to find a suitable buyer would bear fruit.
US Shipping had a falling out with its joint venture partner Blackstone Group in a series of product tanker newbuildings under way at Nassco in San Diego.
Blackstone, the senior partner with 60% of the joint venture, has placed US Shipping on notice that it was being thrown out of the joint venture.
US Shipping in turn has sued Blackstone to prevent this from happening.
This legal action is wrapped into the package of actions brought by US Shipping, as it seeks bankruptcy protection.
In court papers filed last week, US Shipping is showing total assets of US$717.4m and total debts of US$606.5m.