Japan's Sanko Steamship has secured a court order seizing funds belonging to charterer JIT International as it prepares to launch arbitration to force the Chinese defendant to pay up for a share of vessel repairs after a casualty.
The US federal court in San Francisco issued the writ of attachment targeting $1.12m in a bank account in the Californian city.
The Japanese shipowner's attorneys at law firm Holland & Knight filed the litigation against JIT as part of a dispute over the 42,500-dwt open hatch carrier Sanko Royal (built 1995).
Sanko alleges that it declared general average after the ship was damaged in bad weather but JIT has failed to contribute. The shipowner plans to initiate arbitration in London and has launched the US action to secure its claims, court records show.
JIT, a cement and steel charterer led by Xu Dapeng, could not be reached for comment.
According to legal records, Sanko chartered the vessel to JIT in 2011 to carry bagged cement, steel products and containers from northern China to West Africa.
But the journey did not go as planned.
The ship, which has since changed hands and has been renamed the Hong Harvest, encountered heavy weather on its first leg to Shanghai, where some cargo had to be re-stowed and more cargo was loaded.
Then, during the journey to Angola, the Sanko Royal hit more rough weather. The crew found detached lashings as well as the presence of ballast water and fuel oil in one of the cargo holds, according to the civil complaint.
The master diverted to Mauritius to prevent further damage.
In port, inspections found a punctured tank top in one hold and cracks in another, so containers were removed from both holds during repairs. In the meantime, cargo shifted in two other holds and had to be re-stowed.
