A CONTAINER LINE that briefly dabbled in Australian trades during the COVID years has gone bankrupt, owing creditors US$19 million.
VASI Shipping, founded in Singapore in 2012, operated a small number of owned but more chartered vessels almost exclusively on SE Asia-Indian Sub-Continent routes. According to Linerlytica it ceased operations last month and declared bankruptcy on 10 April.
During 2020-21 VASI chartered a number of vessels, on which it sub-let space to established operators in the South East Asia-Australia trade when carriers were desperately short of tonnage. At one stage the company was said to be seeking to establish a container service here in its own right, but the plans came to nothing.
“They were always big talkers but didn’t really have the resources nor cargo base to make any headway,” DCN was told.
VASI’s website describes a range of other services, including the handling of dry and liquid fertilisers, coal, iron ore and fuel oil. It also touts “best in industry” logistics services.
Clients listed include CMA CGM, Triton, Inchcape, Maersk, Emirates Shipping Line, ZIM, Gold Star Line, APL. RCL, IAL and OOCL.
Linerlytica says VASI’s three owned ships were sold off in an attempt to raise funds to stave off collapse.
