International Shipholding Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, unable to sell off assets quickly enough to hold its lenders at bay, the Wall Street Journal reported today. For more than a year, the Mobile, Ala., company has been negotiating with lenders for time to fix its overloaded balance sheet. The company has lined up $16 million in bankruptcy financing to support its efforts to restructure under court protection. International Shipholding has been reining in and selling off businesses, such as its dry bulk carrying unit, hoping to reorganize around the most profitable lines. At the end of first quarter 2016, sales and payments had chopped funded debt to $117 million, down from $243 million at the end of 2014, court papers say. Asset sales continue, but they aren’t bringing in the money International Shipholding needs to comply with liquidity covenants with lenders. The company lost $8.4 million in the first quarter of 2016, following a loss of nearly $180 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015.
