GERMAN BANK ARRESTS 7 EX-NORASIA SHIPS

GERMAN BANK ARRESTS 7 EX-NORASIA SHIPS    The court of Gibraltar’s admiralty marshal has arrested seven 1,388-TEU containerships owned by Abu Dhabi Container Line, the United Arab Emirates-based shipowner.
   A spokesman for Kreditanstalt fuer Widerbau, the German bank that has a mortgage on the ships, confirmed that it requested their arrest in Gibraltar.
   Abu Dhabi Container Line is a joint venture established in 1999 between the former owners of Norasia and United Arab Emirates government entities. The seven vessels arrested in Gibraltar are part of a series of 10 that were previously owned by the Swiss shipping line Norasia, until they were transferred to Abu Dhabi Container Line.
   Norasia Container Lines, now owned by Chile’s Compania Sud Americana de Vapores, is not affected by the vessel arrests.
   Six of the vessels owned by Abu Dhabi Container Line had been operated by Express Container Service, a German company, until about the end of May.
   Meanwhile, Express Container Service has suspended its weekly service between Asia and the Mediterranean since the end of May and currently operates no ship. A spokesman for Express Container Service said on Thursday that it still aims to resume its service, but in cooperation with another shipowner. Express Container Service no longer cooperates with Abu Dhabi Container Line, he added.