An Oregon judge has ordered a Gourdomichalis brothers-owned bulker seized in a Danish company’s latest attempt to collect in a dispute over a ship that was abandoned in Brazil in 2015.
In Portland federal court this week, Pacific Gulf Shipping secured an attachment of the 52,500-dwt Vigorous (built 2005) after filing a $22.6m lawsuit against several Gourdomichalis companies alleging they fraudulently chartered the Adamastos in 2014, abandoned it when it ran aground the next year and since 2017 have avoided paying out claims won in a British arbitration case.
“Blue Wall and Phoenix Shipping ... [left] Pacific Gulf to deal with the claims from cargo owners and sub-charterers,” the complaint reads.
According to the suit, the now-scrapped 73,500-dwt Adamastos (built 1995) was sub-chartered out twice in 2014, first to Integris, then to Marubeni Corporation. With Marubeni, the Adamstos was tasked with shipping soybeans from Brazil to Japan and Singapore.
While taking the load of soybeans, Brazilian authorities found 42 deficiencies while inspecting the ship and detained it. The next day, the ship broke free of her moorings and ran aground with nearly 60,000 tonnes of soybeans on board.
The ship was refloated and towed to an anchorage 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) offshore, where it was held for the next six months. Local media reported the crew complained of insufficient provisions, lapsed contracts and unpaid wages. The AIS system was set to broadcast its current port as “WELCOM [sic] TO HELL.” In January 2015, Brazilian authorities ordered the crew removed and replaced.
No one at Blue Wall or Phoenix Shipping were available for comment.
In 2015, George Gourdomichalis told TradeWinds that the ship was the subject of numerous proceedings, including from Phoenix Shipping, and that the owner and mortgagee banks were responsible for handling the situation.
But, the complaint says, Gourdomichalis-owned Blue Wall entirely owns Adamastos Shipping & Trading, the ship’s registered owner, and that George Gourdomichalis was the sole signatory on the Adamastos’ 2012 mortgage.
The incident in Brazil touched off a string of arbitration cases in London, first Marubeni against Integris, then Integris against Pacific and then Pacific against Adamastos Shipping & Trading.
The arbitrator found Pacific was entitled to compensation from Adamastos shipping for all liabilities related to the claims up the charter chain. Those awards have yet to be collected.
Monday’s attachment of the Vigorous was not the first time Pacific tried to seize the ship.
An August 2015 attempt in South Africa to arrest the ship was initially successful, but was overturned as Blue Wall argued it had investors besides the Gourdomichalis brothers that could influence its fleet, muddying the link Pacific attempted to make between the Adamastos and the Vigorous.
According to MarineTraffic.com, the Vigorous is currently operating in the Columbia River on the Washington-Oregon state line.
The ship, per the attachment order, is allowed to continue working within the jurisdiction of the court.
