Canadian shipowner Fednav is looking to obtain nearly $1.2m in security ahead of arbitration in London over a ship that suffered engine problems at sea.
The privately-held bulker owner sued late last week in Miami federal court, alleging it suffered damage after bulk cargo seeped into fuel tanks and damaged engines aboard the Naviera Ulises-managed, 33,600-dwt Gea (built 2005) last year.
Fednav is seeking to garnish bank accounts with Spain's Banco Sabadell in Miami.
The lawsuit named the Gea's one-time registered owner, Naviera Ulises-linked Allpine Worldwide, as the sole defendant. Fednav claimed chartered the handysize bulker for two-three laden legs in September 2018.
The ship was loaded with 31,500 tonnes of sandy calcined metallurgical grade alumina in Thailand 30 September and set sail for Sept-Iles, near the mouth of the St Lawrence River in northeastern Quebec.
A week later, the Gea's engine failed in the Indian Ocean, leaving it adrift for 10 days after the alumina allegedly contaminated fuel tanks thanks to corroded vent pipes in the cargo holds. The ship was repaired in South Africa over the next 51 days and released in mid-December 2018.
The damage was discovered, the complaint said, after the cargo was discharged in Canada in mid-January.
The damage meant Fednav had to enter into "a loss-making sub-charter" that ended in February when the ship was redelivered in Poland.
According to the charter, disputes will be settled by the London Maritime Arbitrators Association. So far, both Fednav and Allpine have named arbitrators. The third has yet to be appointed.
Last week, TradeWinds reported the Gea had been sold to Danish outfit Janchart Shipping for about $6.9m.
Fednav said in its lawsuit that funds from that sale of the ship either are or will be in the Banco Sabadell accounts, along with proceeds from delivering a sugar cargo at a Russian port.
Naviera Ulises did not immediately return requests for comment.
Paul Pathy-led Fednav is represented in the case by Miami law firm Blanck & Cooper and New York-based Floyd Zadkovich.
