A Greek product tanker owner is facing repossession of a small but relatively modern fleet over alleged loan defaults and a mortgage holder’s claim of some $22.3m plus interest.
But confusion surrounds the identity of the Greek owner.
The four ships now facing repossession were associated at the time of their mortgage with Glyfada-based Eurotank Maritime Management, but now with controversial Piraeus and London-based Saint James Shipping.
Glyfada-based Eurotank, headed by managing director Konstantinos Moumousis, is unrelated to a similarly named compatriot, Eurotankers.
Documents from the UK’s Companies House connect Saint James Shipping to Sam Tariverdi, a Grenadian citizen of Iranian background based in London, and London-based Panagiotis Postantzis.
TradeWinds has previously reported on crew wage claims against Saint James Shipping as well as allegations linking it to sanctioned trading of Iranian oil.
But uncertainties about the identity of the owners are not stopping London-based Kroll Trustee Services from taking legal action against the ships themselves.
One of the four ships, the 18,000-dwt Aeon (built 2012), is now under arrest off Mumbai, where it arrived laden on 5 June. Court records do not disclose what lender Kroll represents in the action.
Indian court records show that Kroll brought the Aeon arrest action over alleged defaults on a June 2017 loan facility in the amount of $31.8m covering the Aeon and three unnamed vessels.
According to an order issued on 20 June by Bombay High Court Judge AK Menon in the Aeon case, plaintiff Kroll alleges that the four-ship financing was amended and restated after a payment default in March 2020. But defaults continued and Kroll served notice of repossession last month.
A fleetmate of the Aeon, the 11,500-dwt Sol (built 2007), has waited at anchor further up the Indian west coast off Surat since about the same time.
Another, the 13,500-dwt Lua (built 2010), has spent most of its time over the last eight months at shipyards around the Caribbean, after discharging in Cuban ports in October, according to AIS data. Neither the Sol nor the Lua are known to be under arrest.
Earlier last year, the Lua had been detained at Fujairah in January 2021 with claims of some $261,000 in unpaid wages by 21 Pakistani seafarers, according to the International Labour Organization database.
On 21 May, the 20 Pakistani seafarers on another ship in the same fleet, the 17,500-dwt Ariana (built 2016), demanded $363,000 in unpaid wages during a call at Fujairah. In both cases, protection and indemnity clubs settled the wage claims and repatriated the crews to Karachi.
Technical management of the ships is with Singapore-based Pakistani-linked Global Radiance Ship Management, headed by Abdul Lateef Siddiqui.
VesselsValue lists Eurotank with a fleet of six ships, including the Aeon, Ariana, Lua, and Sol as well as the 9,100-dwt Delfine (built 2018) and Frona (built 2021).
But classification society-based data source IHS Markit indicates that the first four in that list passed to the management of Saint James Shipping in 2020 and 2021, while the last two were placed with an entity called Eurotankdry.
Tracking information from VesselsValue shows that the six ships trade mostly from the Middle East to ports in India, Africa and the Mediterranean.
TradeWinds has requested comment from officials of Eurotank, Saint James Shipping and Global Radiance Ship Management.
