FASTSHIP IN TALKS TO RAISE FINANCE

FASTSHIP IN TALKS TO RAISE FINANCE    FastShip Inc., the company that aims to launch a fast transatlantic cargo service using specialized high-speed vessels, is talking to institutional investors to raise finance for the project.
   “We are at the beginning of the final phase of raising finance,” Roland Bullard, President of FastShip, told American Shipper. Bullard said that the program, designed to raise finance from institutional equity capital funds, is coordinated by J.P. Morgan.
   The equity-raising round follows years of slow progress in the implementation of the FastShip project. Implementation was originally scheduled in about 1999, but previously suffered delays related to the lack of financial backers.
   FastShip’s strategic partners, including CP Ships, engine builder Rolls Royce and Schneider National, are also involved in the finance program, Bullard said.
   FastShip will market its fast transatlantic service to shippers, forwarders and other transport operators. MSAS, Emery, AEI, BAX Global and other forwarding and logistics firms have given FastShip “preliminary commitments” to use its service, Bullard said.
   A commercial cooperation agreement between FastShip and the CP Ships group, the largest liner shipping operator on the transatlantic route, was announced on Wednesday. Under the agreement, CP Ships will also become a shareholder in the company, with a small equity share.
   FastShip said that it expects to take delivery of the first of a series of four 38-knot vessels in the second quarter of 2004.