The lenders of Polarcus instructed the company to bring operations to an end and sail six of the company’s vessel to a safe port to prepare for a sale.
The company also said that it would be terminating all of its employees.
Polarcus, which had a fleet of seven vessels, held out the possibility that one ship, the Vyacheslav Tikhonov, might remain in operation. The lenders, who have no security associated with that ship, indicated that they remain open to discuss a standstill period in relation to their remaining claims and collateral with the view of finding a solution that would allow the Vyacheslav Tikhonov, which is under a long-term charter to Sovcomflot, to continue to operate.
Polarcus said it will continue to pursue such a standstill agreement to bring stability to the remainder of its business.
In 2020 Polarcus reported that its vessels had been on standby for as much as 30 percent of their time. This compared with less than five percent standby in 2019. Utilization fell to 61 percent versus 79 percent in 2019.