Can pay, won't

摘要

It is not unusual for charterers of ships A to fail to pay their owners, and for the owners to have the vessels and their cargoes impounded. But normally this is either because the charterer is in financial trouble or because of disputes over delays. It is rare for a charterer to insist that it could pay but won't, simply because shipping rates have gone down since it signed the contract. But that is what China's biggest shipping firm, Cosco, is doing, shivering the timbers of shipowners across the seven seas.