Funds will now be made available to paycrewing and fuel costs relating to the arrested duo, the 72,400-gt C Ladybug(built 2011) and the 320,000-dwt A Whale (built 2010).
In a statement Su said: “This is a firststep in the right direction.
“I want to keep TMT afloat precisely inorder to pay off all my outstanding debts but I cannot do that if the banksdeny me the means to maintain my ships.
“Until the Chapter 11 filing I was unableto access accounts in Taiwan to pay for crew and for bunkers.”
The C Ladybug and the A Whale have been twoof the more visible disputes during a troubled time for TMT, which filed papersin the US last week.
Over the past few days crew from the AWhale have made direct appeals to TradeWinds to aid with their plight after spendingthe past six months anchored off Suez.
Its master says the crew has not been paidfor six months, although at this point, getting paid is no longer the issue.The men just want to go home.
The C Ladybug has been alongside a pier inAntwerp for a couple of months amid complaints of unpaid wages and low fuelsupplies.
Su said: “I have contracts andorders which can help make money for TMT and Taiwan but I cannot fulfill theseif banks simply seek to shut down all operations and punish crews because of acommercial disagreement over rescheduling loans.”
The shipowner will soon travelto Houston to give evidence to the bankruptcy court.
In a statement today heexpresses a desire to “come to an amicable arrangement with the creditor banksin Taipei with the help of the Taiwanese government”.
“Everyone knows the shippingbusiness is in dire straights since the pricing scandals of 2008 and thecollapse of the world economy,” a TMT spokesperson said in the statement.
“Nevertheless 90% of all worldtrade is undertaken by ships and there is a future if we just accept to bepatient.”
