Unpaid hire on Hunter Group's VLCC charter dispute has climbed to roughly $67.79m, after the Oslo-listed investor booked a record monthly shortfall of about $12.75m for September — the seventh consecutive month of reduced payments from its unnamed long-term charterer.

The figure, disclosed on Friday and excluding accrued interest, marks a sharp acceleration from $55.04m a month earlier. The September gap is the largest single-month shortfall since the dispute began in March.

The counterparty continues to contest its contractual obligation to pay full hire. Hunter maintains the reduced payments breach the contract and says it will keep pursuing recovery through London arbitration, initiated earlier this year under the London Maritime Arbitrators Association after the unpaid balance hit about $28.2m in June.

What does this change for Hunter?

Cash flow, first. Hunter recorded net time charter earnings of approximately $60.88m for September — nearly double the $31.69m booked in August — but $12.75m of that remains outstanding. Earnings on paper are growing faster than cash in the door. That gap widens every month the counterparty underpays, and interest accrues on top.

The structure of the exposure matters here. Hunter's tanker position centres on two scrubber-fitted VLCCs chartered in at fixed rates and chartered out on floating-rate arrangements linked to the Baltic Exchange TD3C benchmark. So the counterparty's obligations ride the crude tanker market's stronger runs — which is exactly when the arrears have swelled. Stronger rates mean bigger invoices, and bigger invoices mean bigger monthly shortfalls when the payer withholds.

The clock is running on the fleet

The dispute lands as Hunter prepares for a strategic transition. The existing VLCC charter arrangements are approaching expiry, and the vessels will be redelivered. Once redelivery happens, the floating-rate income stream ends and the dispute becomes a pure receivables fight — a recovery action in arbitration rather than an operating question.

Hunter has already reshuffled leadership for the pivot. Erik Mathiesen takes over as permanent chief executive from October 1, tasked with running current operations and building the company's next phase as the ships go back.

Why arbitration, and why it takes time

London maritime arbitration under the LMAA is the standard venue for hire disputes of this kind. It's confidential, contractually mandated in most tanker charter parties, and slow — often 18 months to two years from filing to award. Hunter filed when arrears stood near $28.2m in June. The balance has since more than doubled, which suggests the claim being argued keeps growing while the case proceeds.

For a company whose equity story now hinges on redeploying capital after redelivery, a $68m receivable is material. Recovery timing will shape how much firepower Hunter has for whatever Mathiesen's "next phase" turns out to be.

What happens next

Watch three things: whether the October payment comes in full, short, or not at all; whether the arbitration timetable produces any interim rulings; and how quickly the VLCCs are redelivered, since that closes the operational chapter and crystallises the claim. With the counterparty still contesting the obligation outright and arrears compounding at over $12m in a single month, the balance could pass $80m before any award lands.