Judge to Set Creditors’ Claims Deadline In Trailer Bridge Bankruptcy Case
This story appears in the Dec. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of Trailer Bridge Inc. will set a deadline for creditors to file claims at a Dec. 14 hearing.
Judge Jerry Funk in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville is also expected to approve Trailer Bridge’s payment of prepetition shipping and delivery charges and the hiring of RAS Management Advisors LLC as financial adviser and Global Hunter Securities LLC as investment banker.
“Bankruptcy Judge Funk has already granted all debtors’ first-day motions, including payments to critical vendors,” debtor counsel Gardner Davis of Foley & Lardner LLP told Transport Topics. “We’re looking for a speedy resolution,” he said.
Trailer Bridge, Jacksonville, Fla., has said it hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 in the 2012 first quarter.
On Nov. 16, Trailer Bridge filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in the Jacksonville court after facing a Nov. 15 deadline to pay $82.5 million in bonds, Davis said.
In its petition, the provider of shipping services between the United States, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic listed assets of $102.7 million and debts of $118.1 million. Among the debts was $86.3 million in notes owed to Deutsche Bank Trust Co., a $4.4 million term loan and $5.9 million revolver owed to Wells Fargo and $5.1 million still due on U.S. Government Ship Financing Bonds, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Davis said Funk has granted preliminary approval for Trailer Bridge’s $15 million debtor-in-possession loan from Whippoorwill Associates Inc., White Plains, N.Y.
The loan is priced at 7% and increases to 9% in the event of a default, according to SEC filings. Trailer Bridge also paid a 4% nonrefundable fee of the loan amount.
In third quarter, Trailer Bridge reported a net loss of $1.9 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with earnings of $6.8 million in the same period in 2010. Trailer Bridge generated revenue of $31.1 million during the 2011 third quarter, up from the $29.3 million reported in the third quarter a year earlier.
On Oct. 21, Trailer Bridge CEO Ivy Barton Suter resigned, but she will be paid her $310,000 salary and medical benefits for 18 months, SEC filings said.
