Taipei-listed Wisdom Marine has become one of the first shipping companies to comment on the record about its exposure to Daiichi Chuo Kisen Kaisha’s bankruptcy. Japan’s fifth largest shipping line with some 170 ships in its fleet sought bankruptcy protection in Tokyo and New York yesterday with debts totaling around $1.5bn.

Wisdom Marine, one of Taiwan’s fastest growing shipping lines in recent years, has eight vessels on charter to Daiichi Chuo under time charter with a gross daily hire of under $50,000. However, seven of them are chartered to a subsidiary of the group, Daiichi Chuo Kinkai, which is not part of this rehabilitation and maintains normal operations. The only one vessel with Daiichi Chuo has less than six months remaining charter period.

“As of present, such a rehabilitation application does not pose significant risk to Wisdom Marine’s business,” the line said in a release today. Wisdom Marine’s fleet now numbers more than 100 ships with much of its business tied up with Japanese interests.