Two Pasha Group companies are asking the courts to determine who will crew its two LNG-powered newbuildings set for delivery later this year.

The privately held shipping outfit filed a complaint in the US federal court for the Northern District of California last week requesting clarity on which of three labour unions will work the 2,525-teu George III and Janet Marie (both built 2021).

The unions are the American Maritime Officers (AMO), International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P) and the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (MEBA).

"The three labour unions make their claims under their respective collective bargaining agreements [with Pasha]," the complaint reads.

"The unions make these overlapping claims of exclusive jurisdiction in direct competition with each other’s collective bargaining contracts."

According to the lawsuit, Pasha Group operates six ships in the US west coast-to-Hawaii trade.

The AMO currently crews the 21,100-dwt Marjorie C (built 2015) and 4,300-ceu Jean Anne (built 2005), which were built by Pasha Hawaii.

The other four — the 2,139-teu Horizon Enterprise, 2,653-teu Horizon Reliance, 2,172-dwt Horizon Spirit (all built 1980) and 1,526-dwt Horizon Pacific (built 1979) — have deck officers from MM&P and engineers from MEBA.

Assumed agreements

This quartet was acquired by Pasha Group in 2015 in a deal for Horizon Lines ships in the Hawaii trade. As part of the deal, Pasha Group's Sunrise Operators assumed Horizon's labour agreements with MM&P and MEBA.

The complaint lists Pasha Hawaii and Sunrise as plaintiffs.

To assert their claims, the MM&P sued in federal court, the AMO filed a grievance and MEBA has claimed the collective bargaining agreement covers the George III and Janet Marie in its ongoing contract negotiations.

"The union is aware of the filing of the lawsuit. Once we have been served with a copy of the lawsuit and related documents, we will be able to determine how best to respond," MEBA president Adam Vokac said.

Neither the MM&P nor the AMO returned requests for comment.

The MM&P lawsuit makes claims about the two ships and Pasha's alleged refusal to arbitrate the issue and another related to the elimination of a third mate's position.

That lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California in July.

The George III and Janet Marie are under construction at Keppel AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas.