Speculation is growing that German shipowner Bertram Rickmers may be paving the way for a new shipping operation away from insolvent Rickmers Holding.

But management of MarLink Schiffahrtskontor — a newbuilding project developer in the midst of the talk — are playing down his alleged involvement as the backer of their container shipping project.

Last year, MarLink booked six 1,162-teu ships at Mawei Shipyard for delivery in 2018 and early 2019.