Hamburg, 15th March 2011 - With immediate effect the affected HCI shipping fund companies canceled all current contractual relationships with the financially struggling Beluga-Group. The new ship manager of the affected vessels is HAMMONIA Reederei GmbH & Co. KG. In this way HCI uses the market access of the Joint Venture of Peter Döhle Schiffahrts KG, HCI Capital AG and General Electric Transportation Finance. For the further employment of the heavy cargo- and multipurpose vessels HAMMONIA Reederei will take over the ship management and Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG will take over chartering services.

With a further significant step HCI strengthens the interests of their investors: All running contracts with Beluga Fleet Management GmbH and Beluga Chartering GmbH have been canceled without notice on 13th March 2011. The aim of these measures is to secure the ongoing operation of the respective vessels, regardless from the further development of the Beluga Group. The transfer of the vessels to HAMMONIA Reederei fulfills all requirements for a sustainable and continous employment. "HAMMONIA has an excellent network and also technical and commercial expertise, which we utilize for the affected fleet of vessels. We have initaited all necessary measures regarding the transfer of ship management to HAMMONIA" explained Dr. Ralf Friedrichs, board chairman of HCI Capital AG. Due to the fact that HAMMONIA is partly owned by Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG, HAMMONIA has a wide access to all services which are relevant for the ship management of multipurpose- and heavy cargo vessels. The Döhle Group is for more than 50 years active in the project-, heavy cargo and general cargo business. Currently the Döhle Group manages more than 40 multipurpose and heavy cargo vessels.

Picture: Von Martini0814 - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php