An Iason Hellenic Shipping-connected company is blaming Western Bulk after a dispute over discharging at a Covid-19-wracked port led to one of its ships being arrested.
Liberty Shipholding, the registered owner of the 63,301-dwt Caravos Liberty (built 2013), sued the Norwegian bulker operator on 2 September in a US federal court in Delaware. The action seeks $1.9m over the ship's seizure in Bangladesh.
The shipowner wants to garnish various accounts kept by Western Bulk to serve as security for London arbitration.
Liberty said it chartered the Marshall Islands-flagged Caravos Liberty to the Norwegian operator last spring, with the ship loading a cargo of sugar in Brazil on 13 March 2020 for delivery to Chattogram, also known as Chittagong.
On 21 April, the day before the Caravos Liberty arrived, Liberty said it sent notification that sending the ship to port would violate a charter clause barring it from ports where "world sanitary organisations have declared contagious diseases" had broken out.
Liberty said more than 3,300 cases had broken out in Bangladesh at the time, more were being reported daily and that the country had locked down.
Western Bulk allegedly disagreed and the ship was unable to discharge until 28 May as the two sides negotiated safety precautions.
The Caravos Liberty would eventually be arrested in Bangladesh on 29 July and held until 1 September over claims from cargo receivers Deshbandhu Sugar Mills.
Liberty is suing for final charter hire of more than $628,000, plus legal fees and other costs. The shipowner shares an Athens address with Greece's Iason Hellenic, the Caravos Liberty's commercial and technical manager.
Western Bulk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
