A legal dispute that saw crisscrossing claims over an incident that damaged a chemical tanker at a Vopak terminal has come to an end after the sides agreed to settle the dispute.
US magistrate judge Dena Palermo has signed an order dismissing the case, which started when the owner and manager of the 20,800-dwt Fairchem Filly (built 2007) sued a unit of terminal operator Vopak over damage to the ship.
Details of the settlement were not released.
But the parties agreed to the text of an order that said “valuable consideration” was received to end the dispute, although it did not specify which side paid the other.
A lawyer for Vopak Terminal Deer Park said a confidentiality agreement prevented him from discussing the case.
As TradeWinds reported in January 2022, Fleet Management and HSL Filly Shipping, a shipowning entity tied to Isle of Man-registered shipowner Harworth Shipping Ltd, sued the terminal in Deer Park, Texas, on claims related to a 2019 incident.
The companies alleged that Vopak was to blame for the overpressurisation of two cargo tanks on the ship, leading to a release of the chemical hexene into a ballast tank and of ballast water onto the deck.
Fleet and HSL alleged that the incident, caused by the pressure of nitrogen used to keep chemical cargo from being contaminated with oxygen, caused $2.48m in damage.
But Vopak fired back, denying claims against it and saying it was the vessel’s duty to control the flow of nitrogen into the ship’s cargo tanks.
And the terminal operator fired counterclaims that the two companies owed it nearly $469,000 in dead berth fees.
An investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board, whose conclusions typically cannot be used in court, blamed the incident on both sides, because vessel and terminal personnel failed to follow policies and procedures for cargo discharge and applying a nitrogen blanket.
The case had been scheduled for a trial to begin this month.
HSL and Fleet Management are represented by attorney Robert Klawetter at law firm Schouest, Bambas, Soshea, BenMaier and Eastman.
Alejandro Mendez-Roman of Nork Mendez represented Vopak Terminal Deer Park.
The Fairchem Filly is now owned by ST3 Ltd, which is listed at the address of the ship’s long-time commercial manager Fairfield Chemical Carriers, according to data from Equasis.
