A US court has ruled in favour of an affiliate of Dubai shipowner Arka Global Marine Services in a dispute over unpaid bunker fuel.
US District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled Sing Fuels did not have a lien against Arka's 79,410-dwt Lila Shanghai (built 2011). That is because he found the Singapore company did not deal directly with Medmar, the now-shuttered Greek bulker operator that had the bulker on charter when the fuel supplier delivered bunkers to the vessel.
"[Medmar] did not have actual authority to order necessary supplies that would create a maritime lien on the vessel," Leonard wrote in his opinion, published on 20 April.
Sing Fuels first sued in April 2020 in the US federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia, looking to arrest the ship to collect $532,000 in unpaid bills for bunker fuel provided in South Africa in 2019.
The ship is owned by Autumn Harvest Maritime, which shares a United Arab Emirates address with manager Arka Global Marine Services.
Autumn Harvest had chartered the ship to Bostomar Bulk, which then chartered the ship to Medmar, Leonard's opinion said.
The agreement between Bostomar and Medmar prevented the buying of necessities.
Sing Fuels said it believed it was dealing with Medmar through a fuel broker named Costas Mylonakis, but Mylonakis never dealt with Medmar directly.
According to court papers, he instead dealt with a company called MAC Shipping and that Sing Fuels did not confirm the relationship between MAC Shipping and Medmar.
Leonard also said Sing Fuels waited too long to move on the Lila Shanghai, passing on arresting the ship in several jurisdictions before the ship docked in Virginia.
Even if Sing Fuels had a valid lien, Leonard wrote that precedent said Virginia's six-month statute of limitations would apply in the case. Sing Fuels had argued it was trying to come to a resolution outside of court, but Autumn Harvest repeatedly refused to pay the outstanding fuel bill.
Sing Fuels and its attorneys from Chalos & Co did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Medmar closed abruptly in September 2019, with sources telling TradeWinds that the company took on too many cargoes at the same time, leaving several shipowners and bunker providers with unpaid bills.
Autumn Harvest was represented by Dustin Paul and Edward Powers of Virginia-based Vandeventer Black.
