EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Port, Transport

Sigitas Dobilinskas, CEO of LJL, says that the debt is related to the arrest of the Venta, one of the company's five ships, at the US port of Philadelphia last summer.

"Our debt to the company is related to the release of the Venta in America. We'd like to settle with Lampe & Schwartze, as well as all other creditors, amicably, but the problem is we don't have the money," he told BNS.

At Lampe & Schwartze's request, the Klaipeda Regional Court on Nov. 24 issued a freezing order on 700,000 euros worth of LJL's assets, Kestutis Butvydas, a spokesman for the court, told BNS.

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways), LJL's majority shareholder, and SEB Bankas, its largest creditor, are about to complete talks on the shipping company's future, but no details about their deal on the financing of the ships' operations have been disclosed yet.

Sources have told BNS that bankruptcy proceedings are likely to be initiated after Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai and SEB agree on the financing of the crews until the ships' return to Klaipeda or other European ports.

Two out of LJL's five ships are currently placed under arrest over debts: the Voruta in the port of Bata, in Equatorial Guinea, and the Raguva in Gibraltar. The Romuva is not far from Crete and the remaining two ships are in Klaipeda.

Trading in LJL shares, quoted on the Secondary List of the Nasdaq Vilnius stock exchange, has been suspended.