Shipowners are joining the litany of legal claims over a massive terminal fire in March 2019 that caused a traffic jam in the Houston Ship Channel.
Sovcomflot (SCF Group)-affiliated Waterways Tankers filed a lawsuit on 17 March over the incident, while MISC Berhad subsidiary AET lodged a complaint on 12 March.
Both cases in the US federal court for the Southern District of Texas target Intercontinental Terminal Co (ITC) in an effort to recoup costs related to the blaze alongside dozens of other individuals and companies.
Waterways' claims against the terminal operator total just over $90,000 and AET's add up to more than $450,000. But many of the other plaintiffs, including barge giant Kirby Inland Marine, are seeking millions of dollars.
The fire, at ITC's Deer Park terminal, broke out on 17 March 2019 when a tank holding naphtha ignited, spreading to several other tanks at the 242-tank facility.
It burned for three days, sending a column of black smoke skyward, forcing nearby residents to stay inside, local schools to close and kept more than 30 tankers from entering the key Texas waterway.
Clean-up went on for weeks and was disrupted by a storm, as well as the reignition of the fire on 22 March.
In the lawsuits, AET and Waterways said 11 of the 15 tanks affected by the fire collapsed. The shipowners blamed two contractors, CIMA Services and Instrumentation & Electrical Specialist (IES), for shoddy work on the naphtha tank that initially caught fire.
They also said ITC failed to install a gas detection system that would have alerted workers to and help them contain a product release from the tank.
Only AET's lawsuit names CIMA and IES as defendants. CIMA did not respond to a request for comment and IES declined to comment.
As a result of the fire, the 157,850-dwt Eagle San Juan (built 2012) was prevented from fully discharging its cargo for four days until 26 March, forcing AET to hire a second ship for lightering operations plus loss of charter hire.
Two other ships, the 103,000-dwt Eagle Texas and 107,500-dwt Eagle Kinabalu (both built 2011), were prevented from leaving their terminals elsewhere on the ship channel during clean-up, forcing additional bunker consumption.
AET had all three of the ships under charter.
Waterways said the 110,100-dwt NS Corona (built 2006) had its hull stained in the spill, requiring cleaning.
AET alleged negligence against ITC, CIMA and IES and argued they have liability under the Oil Pollution Act.
Waterways alleged negligence against only ITC.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2019 fire, residents filed lawsuits against ITC, later joined by companies operating in and around the Houston Ship Channel.
In total, nearly 40 lawsuits have been consolidated and a master complaint filed on 12 March from the individual plaintiffs seeks undisclosed "exemplary damages" covering pain and suffering, physical injuries, loss of earnings and mental anguish.
Along with AET and Waterways, Kirby Inland Marine sued ITC in state court in February 2020.
The lawsuit was later entered into federal court and consolidated with the others in April 2020, over objections from Kirby.
In the complaint, Kirby said it had to evacuate its facilities and ships and monitor air and water quality after the blaze, seeking more than $1m.
